


Too Much Too Soon

by brainstorm



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: A bit of drama, Alternate Universe - College/University, First Time, M/M, Shy!Niall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-11 12:25:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 47,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2068101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brainstorm/pseuds/brainstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall stands up for himself for the first time ever but things don't turn out the way he wanted them to and he finds himself struggling between the way he's always been or the way he wants to be. It's a matter of time to know who'll win, his mind or his heart. </p><p>(sequel to "For You, My Love")</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> sooooooo, I'm sorry I made you guys wait for this, but after a month and a half, I'm finally putting up the sequel to "for you, my love"!! are you excited? I'm sorry it took me this long but I had such a hard time writing this like I literally rewrote it all again when I was already into the story and ugh, it was awful. anyways, it's going to have a second part but it's probably going to be a lot shorter than this one. anyways, I hope you don't think this is as bad as I think it is!

“I’m so fucking glad these exams are over,” Liam sighed contently and turned his head to his right to look at Niall, “aren’t you, babe?”

Niall just nodded his head, still looking down and making some sort of “uh huh” sound. Even after almost four months of being with Liam, he still couldn’t get used to the nickname.

“I really missed spending time with you, within all this studying I barely got time to see you” Liam whispered, his voice sounding a bit sad but still let his shoulder hit Niall’s one softly even though they were holding hands. “Are you alright? You don’t look very animated today.”

“I’m fine, just tired.” Niall murmured, still not looking up and with a small shrug of his shoulders. He knew it was a lie, but he just couldn’t let Liam know, he wasn’t even sure himself and he didn’t want to hurt him.

“We’ll just watch a movie and cuddle anyway, how’s that sound? We can go get something to eat later if we’re not too lazy, yeah?” Liam talked as they reached his room, opening the door and both of them walked inside.

They threw their bags to the floor next to the door and took their coats off, hanging them in a small hanger that was already too full with clothes but they didn’t care.

Liam’s room wasn’t too big, but then again, all the rooms in the dorms’ building were almost the same size. He had his bed and a desk and a small sofa with a TV on a small table with wheels that he turned around depending where he was, his sofa or his bed.

“Batman?” Liam asked with a small smile even though they have already watched it together a few times already but it was his favorite and Niall knew it and he just knew that Niall won’t say no to him, but he still thought that it was nice to ask anyway, in case the blonde wanted to watch something else.

Niall nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Liam to put the movie on the DVD.

“There we go.” Liam moved to his bed, piling his two pillows one over another and making sure they were fluffy enough to be comfortable.

The first titles started showing on his TV screen while he tried to accommodate on the bed, half sitting, and half lying on top of the pillows. “Ni?” Liam asked the blonde who still hasn’t moved from his spot on the edge on the bed, “come on, come here” he told him, opening his right arm for him to lay there.

“Sorry” Niall mumbled, not looking at Liam in the eyes and slowly moving to lie beside him, Liam’s arm finding his way around his shoulders.

It was quiet after that for quite some time, just both of the paying attention to the screen. Well, at least Liam was. There was something that has been bothering Niall for a couple of days and he’s been pushing it to the back of his head, almost as if he didn’t want to deal with it. Maybe he didn’t, and not only that, he didn’t know _how_ to deal with it.

At some point, he had turned his head a bit to look at Liam, trying not to be too obvious even though he definitely wasn’t looking at the movie. He took in Liam’s concentrated face, the way his eyes were focused on the screen and that bit of scruff he had let grown lately. How his hair wasn’t an actual quiff anymore but a bit shorter. After a while, he was just staring, plain and simple, he didn’t even know what was running through his mind anymore, he was just staring at Liam and that was it.

“I think you’re going to burn a whole through my head if you keep looking at me like that.” Liam commented, not moving his eyes from where they were glued to the screen and his voice was as serious as possible even though a small hint of a laugh could be heard if you paid attention.

Niall’s eyes went wide for a second and he blushed terribly before looking down. “I-“ he started and he wanted to excuse himself, give some kind of explanation as to why was he staring but who was he kidding, right?

Liam chuckled and turned to the blonde, lifting his head with the hand of the arm that wasn’t around his shoulders, “I’m just teasing you, babe, you know that” he told him with a small smile and those crinkly eyes the blonde loved before placing a kiss on Niall’s lips. And another. And another.

Liam turned his body to the side so he was more comfortable and he could kiss Niall properly. Small, chaste kisses were turning more heated and passionate by the minute, the movie still playing on the screen but already forgotten.

Liam changed the position of his arm, from Niall’s shoulders to his waist while the other one was on his cheek. It was a strange position; still half lying on their sides so the older boy decided it was time to move, both of his hands traveled to the blonde’s hips and grabbed him, moving him under his body so Niall’s head was resting on the pillows and he was on top of him, straddling his hips. A small gasp escaped Niall’s lips and his body tensed, this kind of situation still being too new for him, because well… he had been avoiding this situations like a champion, he should’ve known it was going to happen eventually.

“Sh, it’s alright.” Liam barely detached their lips to speak before going at it again.

It’s okay, Niall could do this, they’ve done this before, the heavy make out sessions, this wasn’t the first time it happened… but that didn’t mean he was used to them or that they didn’t make him feel less nervous or uncomfortable.

He let it happen for a while because in the end it was just kissing and he didn’t want Liam to think that he was prude (even though he was?) or that he didn’t like him. And after all, Liam was just behaving like a boy his age.

Niall felt somehow a bit calmer when Liam’s hands traveled up and down his arms softly, as if he was trying to soothe him, knowing that Niall got stressed easy when this sort of things happened between them. Also, the fact that they weren’t fully making out anymore, the brunette was just giving him small kisses and pecks.

This kept going for a while, it could have been five minutes or an hour but truth is, Niall felt much more relaxed and calm now that Liam wasn’t touching him everywhere and kissing him like there was no tomorrow (even when he was literally straddling his hips). He knew it was weird but he couldn’t help himself, he felt like he wasn’t cut out for relationships, let alone one with someone like Liam.

Niall thought this was going to stop, that they’d go back to their previous cuddling position so they could keep watching the film which wasn’t more than background noise now, so he was surprised and felt his body tense slightly again when Liam’s pushed his lips harder against his, deepening the kiss. His eyes were still closed, had been closed all the time because he thought he’d freak out if he opened them.

He didn’t know how much time passed but at some point, Liam’s hand made his way to the of his shirt, toying with it for a moment before his hand slowly made his way under it, caressing the skin of his hip.

Liam’s other hand made his way to under his shirt too a moment later, his thumbs rubbing circles in his skin while he kept up with the kissing. It was unbelievable, how much Liam could kiss, for so long, barely breaking apart to breathe. His wandering hands started making their way up the blonde’s side, his shirt starting to roll up. And this, this hasn’t happened before but it’s okay… right? It was okay, he didn’t need to freak out, he didn’t need to freak out now, this was nothing, Liam wouldn’t do anything to him that he didn’t want.

Niall didn’t know what to do with his hands so he opted for wrapping them around Liam’s neck. He didn’t even pull at the hair on his scalp, he was just too nervous to do anything but stay still in place.

“Relax” Liam’s lips moved to his ear to whisper for a brief moment before starting to make his way down to his neck. Alright, he was starting to freak out now, his breathing was already shaky.

The brunette’s left hand kept touching him softly, up and down his side while his right one made his way down and suddenly the button the blonde’s jean was unfastened and alright, this needed to stop as in _now_.

Niall suddenly moved, pushing Liam from his position on top of him, almost making him fall from the bed as he pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and hiding his face between them.

“Ni?” Liam asked, his voice sounded amused yet worried. “Ni? Niall, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just got carried away and-“ he started explaining, trying to get closer to the blonde, placing his hand on his shoulder when Niall suddenly stood up, still breathing hard and his eyes were wide with panic.

“I gotta go.” He blurted out, taking big, quick steps to the door, taking his coat from the hanger and his bag that was lying on the floor.

“No, Niall, please, let’s just-“

“It’s- it’s not you, I just- I g-gotta go. Sorry.” And then he was gone.

Smart move there, Liam.

*

There is one thing everyone should know about people like Niall, introverted people. The blonde has his own way of explaining this, being an introverted person. It’s not like he doesn’t enjoy other people’s company, he does, damn right he does, he just has… limits. It like having an own person-sized bubble around him, he’s got nothing against interacting with people, he just doesn’t know _how_ to do it, and it’s hard, it’s hard for him when people push those limits too far, it’s scary and he doesn’t know how to act, doesn’t know how to let other people know that he’s not comfortable.

He can be good at chatting with some people about topics he knows and most likely if it is with someone he already knows too; he is more likely to say hi back if the other person says it first, but he’s not good at managing situations where he doesn’t feel in control. He can perfectly go to any meeting with people, it’s just that after a while, he’d rather be in his room again maybe reading a book. He’d rather save his energy or ‘social skills’, what people like to call it, to people that are close to him (not that there are a lot in Niall’s life). It’s just hard for him to communicate, to express himself in order to let the other know how he’s feeling, that’s why writing has turned into such a big deal in his life. 

So here’s where the drama comes in for Niall. Liam is a great guy, he’s nice, he’s funny and even though he’s not really that brilliant, he worries about him, and that is a nice thought because Niall had never had that. But Liam’s pushing him too far, too far into a non comfort zone and most of the time he feels uncomfortable being in his own skin with all his banter and teasing and touching that he can’t take. He’s not going to deny that shiver that runs down his spine when Liam holds his hand or when he gives him a kiss, or even when he looks at him in the eye while wearing that stupid smile that makes his eyes all crinkly and that makes him go a little bit weak in the knees.

But self respect and taking care of his own self is the most important and comes first, and Niall knows, he just _knows_ that he’s not ready to be with someone like Liam. He’s not stupid, he noticed how people look at them, how ever since Liam started showing up with him, some people had stopped talking to Liam, stopped looking at him or worse, started looking down on him. Liam does not deserve that, Liam is an amazing human being who’s not vain or an asshole as most of the guys on the football team, he tries hard to make everyone feel comfortable (even if he fails with Niall, but that’s not his fault, it’s Niall’s fault) and he deserves to be looked up to, because Liam was born to shine and Niall was just stopping him from it.

He tried to get Liam not to be around him that much, made up all the excuses you could think of, from being sick to having to study and Liam had always stuck around and it made Niall a bit sad because people were distancing themselves from him and he wasn’t even noticing. Well that wasn’t something new for him but he didn’t want Liam to become someone like him, even though who you choose to spend time with doesn’t change who you are, but people didn’t seem to think the same way. And it also made him sad because in some sort of way, he felt like Liam wasn’t really taking into account how he felt, how he needed his own space. Not that he didn’t appreciate Liam, he did, he really did, after all, it was him who started all this, isn’t it? With all the poems some months ago. But now he just… he just wasn’t sure anymore. He wasn’t sure if he could do this, if he was cut out for this, that even if he tried, there wasn’t any guarantee that he’ll succeed at becoming someone better that was worth enough for Liam.

But for now, he didn’t deserve Liam. Or worse, Liam didn’t deserve someone like him.

*

“Why the long face, ay mate?” Louis asked the next morning he joined Liam on his way to his class.

“Didn’t sleep last night.”

“Why not? What happened?” his blue eyed friend asked him, sounding more curious than actually worried.

“I think…” Liam sighed, “I think I might have fucked up with Niall.”

“What? Why?” now Louis sounded confused.

“Just… I don’t know. I need to get to class, I’ll tell you later.” And then Liam was taking off to his class. Truth is, he just didn’t want to talk about it because he might have literally screwed up and he was afraid his friends would tell him that.

Needless to say, he hadn’t been able to pay attention one bit to any of his classes, he was too tired from his sleepless night, true, but he was also worried about Niall, he needed to find him as soon as possible to talk to him and clear things up because he wasn’t sure he could get any sleep until he talked to him.

His first class had been horribly boring and just wanted to sleep to be honest, but during the second one, that’s when it had hit him in the face and he was jumpy, his leg bouncing up and down and he couldn’t wait to get out of that fucking room to run and find the blonde.

When his second class was finally over, he was the first one out of the room, almost as if he’d been shot out of it.

There was someone yelling his name from somewhere but that wasn’t important, the only important thing now was Niall.

“Liam!” now the voice was a lot closer, and even before he had time to turn around, there was a hand on his shoulder. Harry. “Where are you running to, damn, why do you run so fast?”

“Because of training and to find Niall, have you seen him?”

“No but Louis said you-“

“I don’t have time for this right now, I need to find him.” Liam tried to get away from his friend but Harry was faster to stop him.

“You always go to his room to pick him up every morning, haven’t _you_ seen him already?”

Liam moved his eyes to the floor and shook his head slightly, “he was gone already when I went to knock on his door.”

Harry tilted his head and frowned confused, and what he was about to say was not going to make Liam very happy, “haven’t you thought that… maybe, just _maybe_ he doesn’t really want to talk to you right now?”

Liam lifted his eyes from the floor to look at his friend with wide eyes, panic in his brown orbs, “wha- why? Do you think he hates me? I don’t even know what I did wrong and he’s probably trying to hide, oh God-“

“Liam, Liam!” Harry almost yelled at him even though they were still standing in the middle of the hallway, “don’t freak out, okay? You know he’s not much to talk, maybe he’s having a hard time.”

“If he is then I want to be there and-“

“Liam.” Harry said sternly, “I don’t think you understand Niall at all. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I, uhm- “

“Let’s just go to your room.” Harry said, his arm around Liam’s shoulder, almost pushing him to walk there. Liam was tired and he was worried and scared and now he was also anxious and what the fuck did Harry mean that he didn’t understand Niall at all?

It took them less than ten minutes to get to the dorms and to the second floor to Liam’s door. Once inside, Liam face palmed his bed as Harry sat on the sofa.

“So, what happ-“

“Liam?” there was a knock on the door and Louis’ voice, “you there mate?”

Harry sighed and got up to open the door to their friend.

“I didn’t know where you two were and I went to Harry’s room,” Louis explained, pointing at Harry with his thumb, “and there was no one there and we never really come to your room anymore and then I saw Niall and I thought about asking him if he saw you two even though I don’t really talk to him but he looked weird and looked down when he saw me and he kind of almost run away so I-“

“Oh my God, he hates me!” Liam exclaimed into the blankets of his bed.

“Why would he hate you?” Louis asked confused.

“It can be that bad, Liam, what happened?” Harry asked as he sat down again.

“I don’t really know,” Liam started, moving in the bed so he was sitting, “I mean, we were like cuddling and watching Batman and he was staring so I made a joke and he blushed as always and then I kissed him and then we were kissing and then-“ Liam explained all too quickly and not giving that much details to his friends, after all, they didn’t really need to know _that_ much, “and then I think I might have pushed him too far” he mumbled out.

“What do you mean ‘pushed him too far’? Like, in what sense?”

“Like, uhm- this is really embarrassing, I don’t know how to tell you.”

“Embarra- did you fucking rape him or something?!” this time it was Louis speaking.

“Rape hi- for God’s sake, why would I do that? That isn’t embarrassing, that is just plain out wrong, Louis, what the fuck?!” Liam exclaimed disgusted.

“Well, what happened then?” Harry asked a lot calmer than the other two.

“Uhm, well he was like, lying on the bed and I was uhm-“

“Liam we’re not gonna be disgusted or anything, we won’t stop talking to you for liking a damn boy so stop all the ‘uhm’s and fucking get on with it.” Louis almost growled at him in exasperation.

“That I can agree with.” Harry chuckled.

“Alright,” he sighed, “so he was lying on the bed and I was like straddling him or something like that anyways, it was a weird position and we were making out but like- like heavily, you know? and we don’t usually do that and he was all tense but didn’t say anything and like, I never know what he’s thinking- anyways, I kind of slid my hands under his shirt and uhm- then like, opened his jeans?” he finished with a small voice.

“That’s it?” Louis asked as if it was nothing.

“Well, yeah-“

“You scared him.” Harry commented but not actually looking at him, he looked like deep in thought, which was strange because none of them (Louis or Harry) really knew Niall, they just exchanged a few words but other than that, they didn’t talk to each other.

“Yeah, I know but why wouldn’t he want to talk to me so we can fix this?”

“Do you talk a lot? Both of you?”

“Well… Niall doesn’t talk that much, he’s more of a listener. I do talk a lot but you knew that already.”

“Liam, you need to pay more attention to this stuff if you really want him to stick around, you know he’s really shy, he’ll never say something he thinks that can push you away, he’s had a crush on you since who knows when!”

“I know, it’s just- he never says anything, he never complains and he won’t even do it when I ask him so I just- I don’t know, it’s so frustrating” Liam groaned and fell backwards on his bed.

“But you can’t ignore that, Liam, like, you need to make him feel like he’s safe and okay with you, I understand how you think but what if he thinks you don’t care about how he feels?”

“What? No! I don’t ever want him to feel like that!”

“I know but you’re not doing a great job at it, aren’t y-“ Harry intended on keep on talking but was interrupted by a knock on the door. The three boys looked at each other because who could be knocking when the three of them were there?

Liam stood up from his bed with a sigh and walked the few steps from his bed to the door and opened it when- oh.

“Hey,” he said softly when he saw Niall standing on his door looking nervous.

“H- hi,” Niall smiled slightly, “can we, uhm- can w- we t- talk?” the blonde finally managed to ask.

And there he was, stuttering and he knew, Liam knew that whenever Niall was stuttering then something was wrong. It had took them some time to get Niall to stop the stuttering around him and it hadn’t been easy but somehow they managed it, maybe Niall finally felt a bit more relaxed around him, so that’s why this wasn’t good at all.

“Sure” Liam nodded and let the blonde enter his room. “Uhm, guys? Mind to leave us alone for a minute? I’ll call you later.”

“Of course,” Harry stood up from the sofa, “see you later, Li. Bye, Niall.” He smiled a little to the blonde before leaving, Louis on his heels who didn’t say anything but gave him a small nod with his head.

Liam let out a relieved sigh when the door closed after his friends left, “I missed you,” he whispered, “I thought you were ignoring me or hiding” he added, moving closer to Niall and trying to wrap his arms around him but Niall stepped back.

“I- I was.” Niall whispered too.

“Why, Ni? Why were you hiding from me?” he asked, his voice charged with sadness as he stepped forward, closer to Niall again but Niall put a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“S- stop. W- we need t- to talk.” The blonde repeated and he was blushing but this time, Liam wasn’t sure it was for the same reason as always.

“You’re scaring me.” Liam whispered again and this time the fear in his voice was evident, “Look, it is about what happened last night, I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean that to-“ he started talking quickly but Niall stopped him by shaking his head.

“It’s- it’s n- not that…”

“Then what it is?” Liam asked softly, extending his hand and reaching to touch the blonde’s cheek for a second before he pulled away.

“W- well, maybe j- just a b- bit, but… let m- me explain.”

“Ni, what-“

“P- please? I- I never d- do this b- but I n- need to n- now.”

“Okay,” Liam nodded, “I’m listening.”

The older boy didn’t say anything and sat down while Niall took a few deep breaths to calm himself, probably to stop the stuttering now that he was actually going to talk and explain himself.

“So…” Niall said, not really knowing where to start, he should have probably practiced this before or put his head in order because there were so many thing in his head right now. “I’ve been thinking a- and… I’m sorry, a- about last night, I just- I freaked out,” he explained softly and not looking at Liam in the eyes, “it’s just… this is all t- too new for me and I don’t really k- know what I’m doing and you’re so- so confident and- and it’s okay because you’re being yourself a- and behaving our age and I’m just- I’m really scared” he whispered the last part. He saw Liam opening his mouth so he decided to keep going before he could talk, “I’m not- I’m not like you, Liam and… and d- don’t get me wrong but the way y- you treat me, the way y- you touch m- me, sometimes I- I feel like I’m suffocating,” he explained and he saw how Liam’s eyes turned sad and it hurt him to say it and to see the consequences but it was the truth and now that he was getting it out, he needed to keep going even if it was killing him too, “a- and you’re amazing because no o- one’s been there for m- me before b- but I need space and t- time and y- you are worth s- someone much better t- than me-“

“Niall, don’t say that, what-“ Liam interrupted him but Niall just kept on talking.

“I- I’ve seen it. Seen t- the way people look at u- us when we walk together. S- some people even stopped t- talking to you and you d- don’t deserve that. You a- are worth so much m- more, Liam and I c- can’t give th- that to you. I- I get nervous a- all the time and- and tense and this- this stresses m- me so much sometimes I- I can’t deal with this. Y- you deserve someone b- better than me.” Niall finished, finally looking down and trying to stop his eyes from getting glossy.

“Ni… don’t say that, I don’t care about anyone. I’m sorry I made you feel that way, you should have just said something-“ and there he was again, shaking his head at him.

“I- I can’t, Liam, you just d- don’t understand,” Niall talked and his voice sounded strained and he was trying to fight back the tears that threatened to pool in his eyes because this was so frustrating, how couldn’t Liam realize? “I can’t, it’s- it’s not me and I t- tried but it’s h- hard and s- scary and it hurts b- because I like you s- so much but I’m n- not comfortable with m- myself and I- I can’t let t- that happen,” his voice was now broken as he let a tear fall down his face, “I don’t h- have anyone if i- it’s not myself.” He whispered.

“You have me!” Liam exclaimed, standing up abruptly and trying to hug Niall, let him know that he was there for him because he was, he was, _he was_ and Niall didn’t need to feel like that ever but of course the blonde didn’t let him touch him.

“I- I’m sorry, Liam…”

“Don’t be sorry, there’s nothing to be sorry about, Ni-“

“I think w- we should s- stop this.” There. He said it.

No. No, this wasn’t happening to him. Liam was so into Niall and now Niall wanted to- _no_.

“What do you mean- we don’t have to-“ he sounded like he was choking, he couldn’t manage to get anything out of his mouth.

“You don’t understand!” Niall yelled at him and Liam was shocked, it was the first time ever he got such a reaction from him. “Don’t y- you care about m- me? I’m t- telling you, I can’t d- do this, Liam! It’s t- too much for me to d- deal with, it’s t- tearing me up, I feel h- horrible all the time!”

“I didn’t mean to, Niall, I promise, I’m sorry, we can-“

“I’m sorry.” Niall whispered again, shaking his head and walking to the door, “I’m sorry” he whispered again while opening the door.

“Don’t,” Liam choked back the word, “I love you” he could see Niall’s whole body tensing as he said the words, hand squeezing the doorknob before walking out, closing the door behind him, leaving Liam standing alone in the middle of his room, a feeling of distress taking over his chest.

Niall walked as fast as he could when he left Liam’s room. _Don’t turn around, don’t go back._

*

Liam sent only one text that night and it was to Harry. He needed someone and he wished it was Niall but that wasn’t in the picture anymore.

 _‘he broke up with me’_ it said, simple as that and then he did nothing but lie in his bed and look at the ceiling, trying not to think of anything, to keep his mind shut and blank but it kept repeating everything Niall said and it was all his fault, he thought he was treating him like everyone would like to be treated and he forgot the most crucial, the most important thing which is that Niall isn’t like everyone else, that he needed to be treated with care because he’s fragile.

A couple of minutes passed when there was a knock on his door and he shouted something like “it’s open!” and then Harry and Louis entered his room.

“I wasn’t sure about bringing Louis but I thought ‘why not, he’s our friend’ so here we a- ow!”

“You’re shit, Harry, let me tell you.”

“No, I’m not, I brought you here!”

Maybe this playful and innocent banter was supposed to cheer Liam up but he wasn’t even looking at them, he was too trapped in his own thoughts. He heard Harry let out a sigh and walked to the bed, talking a seat on the edge of the mattress.

“So what happened?” he asked softly, “Huh, seems like I ask that too often.”

“He just… it’s the first I heard him talk that much, you know?” Liam said, still looking at his ceiling, “but I was right, I pushed him too far.”

“But like- what did he say? I don’t think it was that bad to have him broke up with you.”

“It’s… complicated. He said he felt like I was suffocating him,” he explained, voice emotionless, it was either that or he’ll start crying any second now, “and I didn’t meant to, I mean- I didn’t mean to be so clingy but I guess I was without noticing? He said it was the way I treated him and touched him, I don’t know…”

“Well… you are kind of a touchy feely person…”

“I know…” Liam sighed and closed his eyes, “and then he said- he said it was too stressing for him because this was new and he didn’t know what he was doing but I mean, he could’ve just talk to me and-“

“Weren’t you listening to me before?” Harry shook his head, “I told you, he’s not gonna talk to you, you need to pay more attention to him.”

“Well but aren’t relationships supposed to be a two way street, like- he needs to talk to me in order to-“

“Liam.” This time it was Louis who spoke and his voice was stern, “you’re an idiot, you knew what you were getting into when you started this so don’t blame it on him,” he explained with a serious face, “I get what you’re saying and yes, it is supposed to be like that but you knew Niall was different and you still didn’t do a thing for you to work.”

“Well…” Harry blinked, “a bit blunt but yeah. Maybe you thought he’ll find a way or that he’ll adapt but…”

“I suck!” Liam exclaimed, talking his pillow and pressed it to his face.

“Maybe you can text him, tell him you’re sorry but… don’t expect to get anything back, you know? Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Yeah, I think you should give him space for a while.”

“But-“

“Liam, if you force him to get back he’s gonna snap and then you really would have ruined it.”

“Okay.” Liam nodded slightly.

“It’ll be fine, you’ll see. Just give it time.”

Louis and Harry changed the topic after than conversation hoping that they’ll get Liam’s mind off of Niall at least for a while, not really succeeding but they tried because that’s what friends are for, support.

Liam didn’t know how long Harry and Louis stayed with him but he was thankful, even though he couldn’t stop thinking about blonde hair and blue eyes, he still heard his friends talking non sense and he was grateful for friends like them. They were right after all, he should just give Niall some time and maybe they could fix things later. Or at least that’s what he was hoping for.

Once his friends were gone, not without some encouragement words before leaving and promising they’ll see him the next day (which was obvious by now, they saw each other every day anyways), he thought about texting Niall, sending him something simple but that express how he felt.

 It took him some time and probably ninety percent of it he just spent it with his fingers hovering over the keyboard of his phone, not sure if what he was writing was actually what he was trying to say. If he was honest, he just wanted to say that he was sorry and that he loved him and that he’ll change and help Niall and be here for him but he wasn’t sure if that would be much help now.

_‘I’m sorry about everything, never mean this to happen just know I’ll be here when you want me. Love you’_

He sent ‘love you’ instead of ‘I love you’ because for some reason it had like a whole different connotation, like it wasn’t that serious even if he wanted it to be, he was dead serious about it even when they had never said it out loud and even if he didn’t know if Niall felt the same, but he knew he did, he had fallen for Niall at some point during the past months and he didn’t regret any single minute he had spent with him and he just wanted him back, he wanted to do things right this time.

*

“You don’t look too happy there.” Zayn said as he took a seat in front of Niall in the library. “You’ve been stuck in that page you’re reading for the past fifteen minutes, that’s not very you.”

It’s true that during the past months, Niall had started talking to Zayn a bit more, maybe he could even consider him a friend, but he wasn’t sure if they were at that level in which he could already talk to him about Liam or just pour his heart out to him. Surely, Zayn knew about Liam and him, everyone did but it was still hard for him to talk about it, what he did the previous night took a lot of courage for him to do but he was sure he did the right thing for him despite that empty feeling growing in his chest.

So Niall didn’t say anything, just shrugged with both shoulders and kept looking at the book. He noticed that Zayn hadn’t moved from his spot on the opposite side of the table and that he was probably looking at him, waiting for an answer, when he heard him sigh and extended his arms to close the book he was supposedly reading.

“So what’s wrong then?” the dark haired boy asked him and he took a deep breath. Was he going to tell him? Maybe he should… “Did something happen with Liam?” was it really that easy to read him?

“Uhm… we- we’re n- not seeing each other a- anymore.” He mumbled, looking away from Zayn’s eyes.

His friend seemed confused, his eyebrows furrowing, “why- but you seemed so happy together!” Alright, yes, thanks Zayn.

“I, uh- I broke up w- with him.”

“You- you did?” Zayn seemed even more confused by the minute. “Why?” he asked and suddenly Niall’s jaw was trembling and no, no, no, this just wasn’t right, he wouldn’t start crying now, not in the middle of the library. “Hey!” Zayn exclaimed and got up, Niall thought he was going to leave but instead he just circled the table and sat next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, “I’m not judging you, mate, I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I just-“ Niall tried to suffocate a sob and was threatening to escape his lips, “I just wa- wasn’t comfortable anymore.”

“Oh, Niall.” Zayn gave him a sympathetic smile, “why don’t we go to your room, yeah? It’ll be better.”

Niall sniffed and nodded weakly, putting the book in his bag and standing up to leave the library. He didn’t notice the weak smile Zayn threw the librarian who was looking at him confused and worried, after all, the library had always his favorite place to be in the campus (aside from his room) and the librarian was probably the person who saw him the most.

They were silent the whole way to the dorms building and up the stairs to the third floor, his friends wasn’t touching him in any way or looking at him except for short glances that he threw him every other minute probably thinking that Niall wouldn’t notice.

“So… I’m not going to say anything, you can just talk about whatever you want, yeah? What you don’t want to say, just don’t, it’s okay.” Zayn reassured him once the door was closed behind them and they both sat next to each other on the edge of his bed.

Niall didn’t say anything for what it seem like a long time and when it did his voice came so soft he thought it was going to break, “I just d- didn’t know how t- to handle him and i- it was too much and I w- was stressed all t- the time.”

Zayn nodded, he might not be as shy as Niall but he was definitely one to listen and understanding people, and he knew as soon as Liam and Niall started dating that it wasn’t going to be easy for the blonde. “And why do you think it happened? Like- why didn’t you just talk to him, Ni? I know it’s hard but-“

“I can’t,” Niall chocked out, “w- what was I s- supposed to say? D- don’t touch me or l- look at me or a- anything cause I’m g- gonna break? He w- would have laughed at m- me!” Niall sounded so desperate and so sad it was heartbreaking but why? Why was this so hard? He was the one who decided this would have been better for him, maybe it was just a matter of time.

“He wouldn’t and you know that. Haven’t you noticed how fond of you he is?” Zayn attempted to give him a small smile, “And look, Ni… you’re not gonna like this but… you started this and everything turned out just the way you wanted, and you knew this was going to be a big step, so why didn’t you say anything to Liam before started dating?” Zayn was calm as he talked as to try not to upset him more.

Niall shrugged, “I thought I- I thought I’d be able to ch- change and stop being s- so damn stupid but I c- couldn’t and I got so s- scared and I decided it’d be b- better if we stayed away from each o- other.” He was hiccupping a bit now, just a tear had fallen from his eye but just because he was trying to hold it in.

“Okay, alright. I understand you. I think it might be better if you give it a little time. Just take a break and decide what you want to do but don’t beat yourself over it. If you like him and he likes you, then you two will work it out just fine, alright? Trust me.” Zayn smiled at him.

The blonde nodded and gave him a small, sad smile, “thanks Zayn.”

*

Niall took Zayn’s advice and tried not to beat himself over the situation too much. It was hard the first week and a half or so, but he had been avoiding every place on campus where he could see or bump into Liam, so not seeing him was definitely helping.

Liam had texted him a couple more times during the first two days, nothing new, more things like “I’m sorry”. And Niall wouldn’t admit it but he read the first text the older boy sent him every night, just because of the last two words. He remembers how tense and awkward he felt when Liam said those words aloud to him, just before he walked out of his room. They had never said them, he didn’t even know Liam felt that way about him. But somehow he found it comforting, all the text was comforting, the fact that Liam said that he’d wait for him for whenever he was ready. But… when will he be ready? It will definitely not happen if he’s alone all the time. He wasn’t even trying to get ready, could it be possible to be scared of that? There was no denying that he missed Liam, how he used to talk all the time non-stop and his smile and his warm brown eyes that crinkled when he laughed and the shiver that run through his spine when he hold his hand. But that was it, he definitely didn’t miss the feeling of being uncomfortable in his own skin when Liam held him by the waist or cuddled him so close or kissed him so hard it was hard to think about how much he wanted it to stop.

And still, he found it strange that he didn’t like those things when it was everything everyone ever wanted in a relationship, and he could have all of those things but he just was too much of a coward.

It wasn’t until the middle of the second week that he entered his room in the late afternoon after his classes, that he found a small piece of paper folded and lying on the center of his room on the floor. At first he had just thought that it was something he dropped but then he opened it and the words scribbled in a messy handwriting that he knew well by now made his heart skip a bit.

_“I know that we can’t be together,_

_but I’ll wait for you forever”_

Did Liam… Did Liam just send him a poem? What was even happening and why was he doing it? Didn’t he realize that this wasn’t good for any of them? That putting pressure into Niall wasn’t anything good?

He tried to ignore it, throwing the small piece of paper into a drawer on his wardrobe and kept going as it didn’t happen. He kept writing his essay for class and then read a bit and then showered before going to bed. It was then that it came to his mind again, Liam said it again, that he’ll wait for him, maybe he should just give it a chance, maybe he shouldn’t have taken the decision in a hurry but then again… he’s never been in a hurry, it took him four month to stand up for himself.

The notes didn’t come everyday much to Niall’s surprise but also relief, they came every two days and sometimes even three days. And they were nice, some of them he recognized them from books he already read and some others he didn’t and he wondered where he could’ve taken them from. Internet probably.

 

It was stupid, but there was this day in which he had had a horrible dream and then a horrible morning and then it was raining and he forgot his coat and umbrella and he had spent the day soaked wet because it was the day of the week in which he had more classes and he had to skip lunch to work on something for a class he had forgotten about (God knows why, he never forgets anything) and then he slipped on his way to his room because of the wet floor and he had felt really embarrassed even though no one was around but his bum and his hips hurt from the fall and he was hungry and tired and in a really, really bad mood. He also had to study for a test he had next week and he hadn’t even started yet. Great. Everything was going great for Niall.

He found a small piece of paper lying on the floor again as soon as he entered his room. He huffed. He wasn’t going to lie, he had gotten a lot better at ignoring everything that reminded him of Liam. He missed him like hell, yeah, but it was slowly getting better.

_“I am so in love, I can’t seem to give up”_

Well, fucking yes, Niall could see that and it was not making it any easier. He loved Liam too but he had asked him for time and it was definitely not what he was getting. How was he supposed to fix his own problems when Liam kept sending those notes, kept pushing him to come back to him? As if he didn’t want to!

That was the moment he snapped, and without thinking it, he was out of the door, flying downstairs and knocking on Liam’s door.

“Niall-“ Liam seemed confused and happy all at the same time when he opened the door to see the blonde standing there. Niall had almost forgotten why he was there.

“This needs to stop” he said, looking at the brunette in the eyes and suddenly his voice didn’t sound angry like it did in his head, but instead it was desperate and almost begging.

“Niall, I’m sorry, I-“

“No!” Niall was almost yelling now, “y- you’re not making it a- any easier for me, stop p- pushing me!”

Liam’s face went serious all of a sudden, and Niall could swear he saw a flash of hurt in the older boy’s eyes, “I got it. I won’t bother you again. Bye, Niall.” And then the door was closed in his face.

He stood there maybe three seconds or an hour, he didn’t know, facing the door before making his way to his room again.

There was a light on his phone, signaling he had a notification.

_“I’ll still be here though.”_

*

Liam had completely avoided Niall like the plague for the almost past two months. He had focused on his classes and football which was more than important because they were leading the tournament.

Things went back to normal, almost everyone had started talking to him again and some girls were even throwing themselves at him. Not that he paid attention anyways.

He hadn’t forgotten about Niall, of course he didn’t but he convinced himself, he forced himself to believe that this was the best thing he could do, leave Niall alone. In any case, they’d be together again if they were meant to be, as Harry liked to put it.

But sometimes he heard a song that reminded him of the blonde, or he would just randomly remember anything about him and he’d feel sad all of a sudden and more than once he felt like storming out of his room and go knock on Niall’s door to say he was sorry and even beg on his knees if it was necessary. But he resisted that urge.

Deep inside him, he really wanted to know if Niall was doing fine and if he missed him as much as he missed him and his blue eyes that were always hiding behind those black rimmed glasses. He wanted to know if there were certain things that reminded Niall of him, like songs or quotes from books or poems. Sometimes it was too much for him to handle.

 

It was late one night and he was studying for an exam he had the next day, books and notes spread all over his desk and even though he had already read most of them, he felt like he couldn’t retain any information.

He groaned when his highlighter stopped working and he threw it somewhere across the room in frustration and opened the top drawer of the desk to take a new one when he saw a small pile of color bookmarks which surely weren’t his. Then he remembered that Niall had told him once that they had glue on the back so he put them on the pages of books when he found quotes he liked or poems he thought were good and would want to read again sometime. Light blue were for poems, red were for quotes from books. And he even had green and yellow for when he studied and thought something was important to remember later.

And suddenly he felt a pressure in his chest, something so small and simple had made such an impact on him. This time for the past two months he felt like if he didn’t see Niall soon, he would drown and suffocate and he’d die without telling him that he was the most important thing in the world for him and that he had changed him for good. And it was so dumb, so, so stupid, all because of these small, fucking bookmarks with Niall’s stuttering voice explaining what they were for that was playing again in his head caused this pressure in his chest that was starting to hurt and he needed to do something about it.

Without even thinking about it, because if he did he would have found a million excuses not to do it and he was tired of it, he needed to get rid of this awful feeling and that’s what he was going to do, no matter if Niall would scream at him later, so he ripped the corner of the paper he was writing on and scribbled three simple words before folding it and leaving his spot on his chair and opening the door, leaving his room behind and going upstairs. He found himself in front of the blonde’s door in no time and before he could even let out a sighed, he crouched and slid the paper down the door. There, it was done.

*

Fucking Liam.

Fucking Liam thinks he can slid a paper under his door with just an _“I miss you”_ written on it?

Well, damn right he can. Because Niall had been thinking a lot and each passing day he just missed Liam even more. It was fine at first because of the notes, they meant Liam was still there for him but after that episode in which he yelled at him and the older boy shut the door in his face, then he had completely vanished and disappeared from his life.

He tried not to think about it, after all, he was the one who wanted this, right?

 

It took him three days to write back.

*

Football practice had been extremely exhausting and lasted more than expected but the team was okay with it because the next game was on the next weekend and the team they were going to play against was really good so they had to make an extra effort.

A shower has never felt so relaxing in his whole life, he could now feel his muscles less tense from all the running and he got rid of the sweat on his body. He put a pair of boxers and shorts on and now he could _finally_ go to bed and have his much needed rest.

 

_“You’re gonna do great, Li, I know.”_

_“I don’t know, I feel like everyone’s counting and pressing me to win this, it’s so much-“ Liam said but was cut by a pair of lips pressing against his._

_“You’ll do great, just focus and maybe we can go celebrate afterwards, yeah?” he winked at him._

_“Promise?” Liam asked with a big, teasing smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around the blonde’s thin waist._

_“Promise.”  he nodded and sealed it with a kiss._

Liam woke up sweating and sat on his bed. What the fuck was that dream supposed to be about? He had dreamed about Niall countless times before but there hadn’t been any kind of contact between them in any.

He turned the light on his nightstand and tried to calm down. There was no way that he’d be going back to sleep now. He remained in a sitting position in bed, the dream he had just had running through his mind. It was ridiculous because Niall would never act or say something like he did in his dream in real life but he couldn’t deny that it’d be nice to have that, which led him to think that Niall had never said something about the paper he slid under his door three days ago. Maybe he already forgot about him, maybe he didn’t want him anymo- wait, what’s that?

It was dark in his room because the lights weren’t properly on but there was definitely some kind of paper sticking out from under his sofa. It was probably nothing, something he dropped and ended up there but… what if it wasn’t? what if Niall had actually replied…?

He was out of the bed in a heartbeat, moving the sofa and attacking the small piece of paper.

 _“I miss you too”_  

He felt paralyzed for a moment and his heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to break out of his ribcage. He needed to do something and it needed to be done now.

He was out of the door and on the upper floor quicker than it was humanly possible, stopping dead on his tracks once he was standing in front of Niall’s room. He took a deep breath and exhaled, lifting his fist and knocking on the door. This was it, Niall would either yell and tell him he don’t want to see his face again or everything would turn out fine and they’ll live happily ever after. He was hoping for the latter.

The door opened slowly, revealing a very sleepy Niall that was wearing a shirt that was maybe a bit too big for him and shorts, bed hair and rubbing one of his eyes with his hand, if Liam wouldn’t have been in love with him already he would have definitely fallen in love right there. Niall was generally so cute but this was too much.

“Liam?” Niall asked confused, his eyes narrowing a bit, trying to get used to the light coming from the corridor, “what are you doing here so late?” he asked Liam and damn, Liam having trouble trying to decided if Niall’s sleepy voice was cute or hot. Maybe both.

“Why- what time is it?” okay, Liam might have not paid attention to the clock when he left his room, it could’ve been ten at night or three in the fucking morning for all he knew, but that wasn’t important, his mind was a lot more preoccupied with certain boy that was now standing there in front of him looking cute as ever. And that still haven’t kicked him out.

“Uhm-“ Niall turned around to watch the clock, “almost two in the morning.” Fuck.

“I’m sorry, I-“ Liam cleared his throat a little, “I just found this and,” he explained, waving the small paper he still held in his hand, “and I don’t know, I just had to come here and-“ and he was stopped by Niall extending his arm so he could take his hand. “Uhm…” he started, slowly talking Niall’s hand, “what are we doing?” he asked once Niall had softly pulled him into his room and closed the door.

“Sleeping.” Niall answered and yawned.

“But we’ve never… uh-“ yeah, they had never slept in the same bed, Niall had always made sure to escape those situations when they presented. Every time Liam would say he would take a nap and offered him to do it too or if he asked him to stay the night at his room (and he swears, he had never had any further intentions) even though Niall’s room was only a flat of stairs away, the blonde had always found an excuse to say no. It was okay with Liam, he wasn’t going to force him, of he didn’t feel comfortable with it, then he could deal with that at the moment. But now… now he had the chance to but he didn’t know if it would be the right thing to do; after all, Niall was almost sleep talking, you could see the way his eyes were almost closing while he spoke and he didn’t want Niall to think he was talking advantage of him when he woke up the next morning and saw him there, not when things could finally start to fix themselves.

Niall had already got into bed in while Liam just stood there dumbly not knowing what to do.

“Liaaam” Niall’s voice came from the bed, it was a whisper but it still made Liam came down from his thoughts.

He walked to the bed and hesitated for a second before sitting, careful not to touch him or anything. “You’re not going to freak out in the morning?” he whispered, he felt like if he spoke louder some kind of magic that was surrounding them would break.

“No,” Niall shook his head against the pillow, eyes already closed, “I promise” he added and moved in the bed, making space for Liam to lie down.

The older boy didn’t move for a moment, not sure if he was doubting Niall’s words or if this was something a bit too hard to believe after the past couple of months.

He finally decided that fuck it, before lying down on the bed, trying to keep at least half an inch of distance between Niall and him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Niall but he still wanted to save himself from a freaked out blonde in the morning.

“We can talk in the morning” Niall added, brushing his finger against Liam’s arm, his voice was softer than a whisper that Liam could barely listen to him.

“Alright.” Liam nodded even though Niall wasn’t looking at him and a minute later, he could hear the blonde’s breath had evened out, lulling him to sleep not long after.

*

“Ow,” Liam woke up to soft kicks in his legs the next morning and opened his eyes to realize that somehow during the night Niall had snuggled close to him, a mop of blond hair was resting against his shoulder and his arm was loosely wrapped over his middle while Liam’s arm had found his way around the blonde’s waist. He felt the body of the boy lying beside him tense as he made a complain sound, so he spoke in order to soothe him, “it’s just me, Ni.”

It might have taken three minutes for the blonde to completely relax. “Sorry,” he mumbled, still not moving from his position and his eyes closed, “I always do that when I wake up.”

“What? The kicking thing?” Liam asked confused and Niall just responded with a ‘mhmm’ sound. “You just keep getting cuter by the minute, don’t you?” he chuckled, “well, at least I’m never going to miss on you waking up.” He added and saw the blonde smile slightly.

Then there was silence. But it wasn’t uncomfortable, it was… peaceful, like things just miraculously were good between them again. Liam wanted to ask but he wasn’t sure how to confront him.

“So…” he started and heard Niall sigh, his breath hitting the side of his torso, making him shiver a bit.

“I’m sorry,” Niall said before unwrapping himself from Liam and changing into a sitting position even thought the bed was too small, “a- about the way I acted all this t- time. I’ve been stupid.”

“No! No,” Liam moved so he was now sitting too in front of the blonde and he took Niall’s hand in his, “you don’t ever have to be sorry for taking care of yourself.”

“I’m not- not sorry about that,” uhm… what? “I’m sorry about the w- way I handled things. I did it p- poorly.”

“Well I didn’t make a great job either so I guess we’re even…?” it came out more like a question than an actual thought.

“B- but, it’s was the fact that you uhm- you were so pe- persistent that made me realize t- that I really wanted t- this. And then- and then I j- just yelled at you a- and ruined everything. I felt h- horrible the past t- two months.”

Liam couldn’t help but smile a little at his words, the fact that Niall had missed him as much as he did.

“You know what made me write that last note?” he asked and the blonde shook his head softly, “those freaking- those bookmarks you use when you read, ugh,” Niall chuckled at his words, “I found them in one of the drawers of my desk, guess you left them there sometime and- and I know it’s stupid but they reminded me of you so, so bad and I just wanted to fix everything but I thought that you maybe had gotten over it already, I mean, two months had passed and I was trying so hard to act like I was okay and I fucking wasn’t and I just snapped” suddenly his explanation just turned into some sort of confession and he felt stupid for blurting everything out.

Niall squeezed his hand a little and looked at Liam in the eyes, “I was acting like t- that too. Zayn used to tell m- me all the time to just go a- and talk to you.”

Liam smiled at him, “so you and Zayn are good friends now?”

“Uh- yeah… I guess we are.”

“Well, something good came out of this mess in the end then.”

“That’s n- not an excuse.”

“I know.” Liam nodded before everything fell into silence again, the two of them sitting on the bed with his legs crossed and Liam still holding Niall’s hand. It was the blonde who broke the silence first.

“So, uhm… you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive, we’re good. Wonderful even.” Liam gave him a reassuring smile. “Just… one thing, yeah?”

“Wh- what is it?” Niall asked a bit scared.

“Promise me we’re going to work on communicating, yeah? I want you to be okay and safe, I want you to feel confident enough to talk to me when you’re not feeling comfortable or when something bothers you. We can take things slow this time, but promise me we’re gonna work on this, yeah?”

Niall felt tears started to fill his eyes but nodded anyways and let go of Liam’s hand to wrap his arms around his shoulders instead.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Liam asked him softly as he ran one hand up and down his back in comfort.

Niall sniffed as he let go of Liam and shrugged, “n- no one ever cared that much a- about me to say that.”

“It’s an honor” the older boy did some kind of bow and made Niall smile. “So, uhm-“ Liam scratched the back of his neck, “can I get a kiss?” he asked almost as if he was scared to ask. Luckily for him, Niall just nodded and gave him a small smile before leaning in as Liam did so their lips met halfway, a feeling of electricity running through their bodies as they kissed.

Liam sighed when they pulled away even though their faces stayed just inches away, eyes closed, “I’ve been dying to do that for so long.” Niall wanted to reply and say something like ‘me too’ or something but opted for just giving him a light peck over the lips, causing Liam to smile. “We should go get breakfast,” the older boy said then sitting straighter this time, “it’s late already.”

“Uhm,” Niall blinked, “you do realize you have n- no clothes on, r- right?”

“Oh” Liam blinked and look down to himself because yes, in all the hurry from last night he didn’t even bother in putting a shirt on, he was too caught in the moment and the thought of Niall that clothes weren’t that important at the time being. He didn’t even have shoes. Great Liam, good job. “Guess you’re gonna have to lend me some then.”

“I d- don’t think they’ll fit you” Niall chuckled.

“Well, you can lend me that one you’re wearing right now, it looks big on you. Just so I can go to my room and get my clothes. Please?”

“A- alright,” Niall nodded and stood up and moved to his bedside table to grab his glasses and put them on, then walking to his wardrobe to get a shirt to wear himself so he could hand Liam the one he was wearing. “Uhm, can you uh- turn a- around? Please?” Niall asked with bright pink cheeks.

“Of course.” Liam nodded and turned around, facing the opposite wall.

“Done.” The blonde’s voice announced a minute later and Liam turned around while Niall handed him the shirt.

“Thanks,” Liam smiled, sliding his arms and head into the white shirt. It looked good on him, it was probably his size. “Hey, Ni?” he asked and stepped closer to the blonde.

“Y- yeah?”

“You’re beautiful, yeah?” Liam reached his hand to brush his fingers against Niall’s cheek and down his jawline, “you don’t have to hide” he added, making the blonde blush. He gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled up to him before walking to the door and going out with a “see you in a minute, babe!” just as the door closed, leaving a flustered but smiley Niall in his room. He had definitely made the right choice when he decided to let Liam in again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot about this and I am so fucking sorry!!  
> I decided this is going to be three chapters instead of two so here's the second one! the third will be up as soon as it's finished! (:

First couple of weeks after Liam and Niall’s reunion was spent pretty much on discussing where they wanted their relationship to go and how they wanted it to happen. Slowly taking steps on what was going to be the base of their communication. It still wasn’t easy for Niall but he was more than willing to give it a try just so they would never fall into what had happened the past months.

Things were going smooth and easy and Liam had taken as a habit to always ask before doing something, which got Niall on his nerves because “can I walk you to class?”, “can I hold your hand?”, “can I come up to see you later?”, “can I sit next to you?”, and he just wanted to scream at Liam’s face that of course he can fucking sit next to him. Maybe he didn’t explain himself as good as he thought. But on the other hand it was kind of cute how Liam was always so worried about making Niall comfortable around him, like he was so invested in doing everything perfect for him that the blonde couldn’t help but smile a little when he noticed Liam’s smile or enthusiasm when Niall said it was okay to do whatever he asked.

They had gone on countless, little dates, most of all organized but Liam. They were all simple, nothing like going to fancy restaurants (not only because it would be weird but also because they couldn’t afford it) or going to public places where they could bump into people from college.

Niall’s favorite date was the one when Liam had taken him to a park on a night to have a picnic and then lie on the grass and watch the stars. Maybe it sounds completely boring and even cliché out of a romantic movie but it was nice, he had his head lying on Liam’s stomach while they held hands, the older boy’s hand rubbing small circles with his thumb in Niall’s hands.

Another of his favorite moments was a couple of weeks after the picnic date, on the last football game of the season, which their team had won (not for much but they did their best and they deserved it) and Liam had been so nervous about it all week before the game, but Niall had been there for him and had kissed him and hugged him before it started, promising he’ll be out there on the benches cheering for him. And Niall wasn’t one to sit within all the people because it was weird and he could always feel everyone’s eyes on him since his relationship with Liam had been restored but he knew how much of a deal this was for the older boy so he had asked Zayn to go with him. And they even run into Harry while looking for seats so he decided to sit with them. Louis had scored the first goal that night, but then the team they were playing against scored too. And what a goal it had been. They had been training so hard and Liam had this determined face until the last five minutes in which he scored the goal that would give them the victory. And when the sound of the whistle indicated that the game ended and they had won, the team had all congratulated Liam and they cheered and scream. But it was after all that celebration with his team mates that Liam had jogged to the benches, high fiving some people on the way but his eyes were settled in only one person. Niall was sitting almost at the top of the benches so Liam had to go all the way up there, the people sitting and standing there moving to the side to let him go through. And that was maybe the first time that Niall felt like Liam really didn’t give a fuck and just went with it without asking him a question, wrapping his arms around his waist and bending down a little to press his lips to Niall’s. Everything had been silent suddenly and even though both of them had their eyes closed, they could feel everyone’s eyes on them. Niall had pulled away and wrapped his arms around Liam’s neck and hid his face where his shoulder and neck meet when Liam was about to whisper something in his ear but some yell stopped him, “they are so cute!” or something along those lines, and a second later everyone exploded in cheers and applauses, their kiss long forgotten as people went back to celebrating their team’s victory.

And the fact that that happened made Niall feel a lot better and maybe even a bit more confident. He didn’t look down that much when he walked around on campus with Liam by his side. Because there might be people that weren’t okay with them but after a conversation between the two of them in which Liam had assured him that he didn’t care about them, he decided to ignore them. And the rest of the people was okay with them or didn’t give a shit about their relationship, and he was more than okay with that, he was grateful for those people.

Niall had also found out that Harry and Louis weren’t that bad either, he knew that if they were Liam’s friends then they couldn’t be that bad but Harry was actually really laid back and chill and also nice to him and everyone (even given the fact that he spoke really slowly and that made him a bit nervous), and Louis… well, Louis was a bit too much sometimes to be honest. He could bea bit obnoxious sometimes and blunt and he literally didn’t give a fuck about anything or anyone but he was cool and he could deal with that.

Liam had also met Zayn properly and realized that he wasn’t actually that similar to Niall, personality wise, because they surely weren’t similar physically. Zayn wasn’t shy, not as much as Niall at least, but he wasn’t one to talk much, he was more of a thinker, Liam realized. But he seemed to get Niall and listen to him and he was really happy for the blonde to find someone that he could share with, because Liam might be a jealous person, but he did want Niall to grow as a person and have friends so he could have a good time, especially now that they were in college.

They had talked about their families and Liam confessed that he had been really nervous when he had told his parents that he was dating someone the same sex because they didn’t know, hell, he didn’t even know before Niall. And they had been a bit hesitant but not because they thought it was wrong, they loved Liam no matter his choice of partners, but they were just… shocked. But nevertheless, they (especially his mother) made him promise that he’ll take him to their home to have dinner sometime. Liam had rolled his eyes and said that of course. He’d have to break those news to Niall slowly or he’d freak out about meeting his parents even though he was sure they were going to love him just like he did, because who wouldn’t love Niall?

Niall had told his parents about Liam too, and he had to tell the story twice because well… his parents were divorced but they still knew about his sexuality. It had been kind of a big deal when he broke the news to his parents some years ago but that was in the past now and they accepted him just the way he is and they had been delighted when he told them about Liam. Of course they had asked all kind of questions, knowing their son’s personality and how hard he had it when it came to communicating with people. Niall had mentioned that they had had some… arguments and differences in the past, not really feeling like going into what had actually happened between the two of them, but told them they were already over them and they were fine as ever now.

Both of his parents had asked him to bring Liam home to them someday and he had told them that he will but maybe when they were a little further into the relationship because he didn’t want to scare Liam yet.

Another thing that has been happening a lot during this time that passed, were “sleepovers”, as they liked to call them, because somehow they felt like they needed to made up for all the time they lost (which had been three or even four months and that was a hell lot of time) even though they were taking it slow, but they had discovered that contrary to their beliefs (and probably everyone else’s too) it helped Niall sleep better, just knowing that Liam was there with him and that he was still going to be there the next morning was something that had his stomach doing flips. Hearing the older boy’s breathing had a relaxing and calming effect too, because Liam always, _always_ fell asleep before Niall and as creepy as it sounds, he liked watching him sleep even if it was just for a bit. And then it was the fact that Liam would always wrap his arm around Niall in some way or just let him cuddle close to him and the next morning they would wake up all tangled up. Not that any of them minded.

Oh, and also, so much for Liam saying he’d never miss on Niall’s awakening because of those little kicks he did with his legs when he woke up… yeah, apparently he had got used to it and he could carry on sleeping. It was okay though, Niall didn’t think he could live knowing he’d wake up him up every morning for the rest of his life.

The rest of his life, that sounded promising, he liked that.

Communicating was going great so far, after giving Niall the little push he needed, he had started voicing his thoughts a lot more. At first it had been a bit awkward for Niall but he didn’t have to worry that much because Liam was also being more careful with him. But sometimes Niall thought that Liam made things on purpose just so he could talk about it, it was a bit mean to do that but he knew Liam wanted the best for him and he knew he wanted them to work, so sometimes he would get a bit too touchy and he’ll have to stop him and put his hands away and say something like “can you pl- please not do that?” with pink cheeks and Liam would just give him a small, proud smile and let him go. There was nothing that made Niall feel better than when he saw pride written on Liam’s features.

*

A few months have passed now and things kept going strong, of course they still had some up and downs and things to talk and learn but besides that, both of the boys were really happy about how they were handling their relationship so far.

It was Friday afternoon and they were both done with his classes, but unlike all their weekends, they wouldn’t be spending it together, this time, Liam was going back home to see his parents.

“ I’ll be back in two days, don’t miss me too much, yeah?” Liam winked at Niall, suitcase already next to him as he headed to the door. The blonde didn’t say anything, he just shook his head and walked behind Liam as he stopped in front of the door, hand already hovering over the knob when a pair of arms wrapped loosely around his waist and he felt Niall’s forehead resting against his shoulder blades and he couldn’t help the small smile that made his way to his face. “Ni, I really need to go if I don’t want to miss the train,” he half begged half laughed as he turned around in the blonde’s arms while he sighed and rest face in Liam’s shoulder.

“I know” he sighed and let go of Liam’s waist.

“I’ll miss you too.” Liam told him and Niall gave him a little smile. “You wanted to hear it, don’t you?” he asked this time and let out a brief laugh as Niall felt his cheeks burn a bright pink but still nodded, “of course I will. Now, I need to go or my parents will flip shit about me being late.”

“Okay,” Niall mumbled and gave a short nod, “bye” he pressed his lips to Liam’s.

“Bye. I’ll call you when I get home.” He told him as he opened the door and Niall mumbled an ‘alright’.

Liam made his way out of the dorms building with a smile on his face, happy with how much his relationship with Niall had developed. It was those moments in which the blonde would initiate the contact or express his affection with a small touch or short sentences that made him realize how far they’ve come, that Niall was actually comfortable and that he had done the right thing so far. And he was glad; he was glad because he loved that shy blonde, he felt happy and warm around him and it took him quite a while to wrap his head around the idea of it but what was the point on trying to deny it anyway?

He took a taxi as soon as he was out of the campus and asked the driver to take him to the train station. It wasn’t that far away but it wasn’t a distance one would normally walk, let alone with a suitcase. And Liam wasn’t even sure why he needed a suitcase, he was going home just for two days after all but his mum would probably freak out if he came home with only a bag so he decided to save himself from that sermon.

He paid the driver about ten or fifteen minutes later when he finally arrived at the train station and got out of the car. He made his way up the stairs to the platform and found a seat on a small bench, the train wouldn’t be there for another five minutes according to the timetables.

He was humming some song to himself when his phone started vibrating on front pocket of his jeans, it was probably his mother calling him. _Again._ So he was surprised when it was a picture of his blonde boyfriend and his name what was displayed on the screen on his phone.

“Miss me already?” he said with a smug smile when he picked up even if Niall couldn’t see his face.

“Uhm- no- I mean, yes but that’s not w- why I called” Niall chuckled a bit. Liam missed him already. Two days, just two days.

“What’s up then, Ni?” he asked, curious as to why the blonde was calling him already when he left about twenty minutes ago.

“You left your f- favorite hoodie here. Want me to take a t- taxi real quick to the station and give it t- to you?” Niall was such an angel.

“No, babe, don’t worry,” Liam started, “the train will be here any moment anyways.”

“But it’s your favori-“

“I left it there for you, Ni.”

“F- for me?” Niall sounded confused.

“Yeah,” Liam scratched the back of his neck, “I took one of your shirts with me, sorry I didn’t tell you by the way, so I thought I should leave something mine for you there.” He finished explaining with a shrug.

“Oh” the blonde exhaled that answer, “thanks, Li, I-“ and then the train arrived and there was a lot of noise that didn’t let Liam hear what Niall said.

“I’m sorry, the train just arrived and couldn’t hear you,” Liam spoke as he stood up and started making his way to the train car, “what did you say?”

“Uhm- I- I love you.” Niall murmured and Liam smiled.

“Me too, babe. I’ll text you when I get home, my mum will probably be all over so I don’t think I’ll be able to call you until night time.” He explained with a sigh as he walked inside the car, looking for a seat.

“Okay. Just let m- me know you’re okay.”

“Will do. Talk to you later, Ni, love you.”

*

He was off the train and inside a cab again a couple of hours later and on his way home. He didn’t realize he had missed his parents that much with how agitated his life has been lately. Well, not agitated but he had his mind busy with other stuff… studying, football, Niall…

Luckily for him, the car ride from the train station to his house wasn’t that long, ten minutes top, so after getting out of the car he had to face the difficult task of looking for his keys in that big suitcase he had with him, because really, why didn’t he bring a simple bag, he hated his life.

His mother was running from the other side of the house as soon as he opened the door and put a foot into the living room and he couldn’t even close the door before his mum’s arms were hugging him so tight he wasn’t able to breathe properly.

“Mum, you gotta let me breathe,” his voice sounded choked.

“Oh! Oh, sorry, baby,” his mum, Karen, apologized and let him go, “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, mum,” he smiled at her because he really did, he had missed his parents and his mother’s cooking and the warmth of his house that was nothing like the dorms, “where’s dad?”

“I think he went out to bu-“

“What in the name of God is the door doing op-“ they could hear his father’s voice coming from the outside until he stopped at the door, “Son!”

“Hey, dad!” Liam hugged him too.

“I’m going to leave you two men to catch up while I make dinner, okay?”

“God, yes, you’ve got no idea how much I missed your cooking, mum!”

“College food’s not that great, huh?” his father, Geoff laughed.

“Not really, is not actually horrible but it doesn’t taste anything like homemade food.” he explained as he took his phone out of his pocket and unlocking the door.

“Now, who are you texting now that’s more important than us who you haven’t seen in month?” Karen reprimanded him playfully.

“Just letting Niall know I got home okay.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“Oh.” His mother blinked, “we need to catch up on that later, too,” it didn’t sound harsh or anything it was just like… a comment. Liam had explained them how his relationship with Niall was and he knew he was going to face this conversation sooner or later but he was sure it’ll be fine. “Well, I’m going to start dinner then.”

-

“Uuuugh, I haven’t eaten like this in months!” Liam exclaimed, holding his stomach, “thanks mum” he smiled at her.

“My pleasure” she smiled back.

“Now…” his father cleared his throat, “we’d like to talk to you about that- uhm, the boy you’re dating,” his father spoke, seeming a bit uncomfortable by it but Liam thought it was natural that his father felt that way so he didn’t let that bother him, “I know you might not be eager to talk about this but we want to be sure you’re fine and that this is the right thing for you.”

“Alright,” Liam nodded carelessly, “what do you wanna know?”

“Well… you’ve already told us a bit about him, so… how are things going? Is he doing better?”

Liam tried to suppress the small smile that threatened to make its way to his face at the thought of Niall and how much better he’d gotten, “he’s a lot better, yes. We had a lot of work to do but we’re fine” he shrugged.

“What did you say he was majoring in?” his mother sounded curious.

“English. He’s a sucker for books” Liam rolled his eyes but smiled fondly.

“Oh. You think he’s gonna be a teacher?”

Liam chuckled at that, “no, I don’t think he likes the idea of being in front of people too much. I think he’ll stick to writing.”

“So he writes already?” this time his father asked.

“Yes, he likes poetry better but in my opinion he’s great at everything he writes. Better than me.”

“Liam, that’s not-“

“I know, not too hard,” Liam laughs, “I always sucked at English, I know.”

“But isn’t it… hard? To find a job as a writer, I mean. Is that a stable thing to do for the rest of your life?”

“He really is good, so I think he won’t have any problems getting a job,” he shrugged, “maybe he’ll have a hard time when having interviews and stuff but he’ll be fine.”

“Well, he still has a couple more years in college and that’s gonna help him to open up a bit too. College is a great experience for a lot of stuff. But you still need to bring him over one day so we can meet him properly.”

“I know. I just didn’t want him to come this time because you’re a bit too overwhelming, mum,” he laughed and his mother slapped his arm playfully, “no, but seriously, when he’s a bit more comfortable with the idea, I’ll bring him over sometime, don’t worry about it.”

“That’s my boy.” Karen smiled at his son.

“Now, enough of this,” his father interrupted them, “how’s football going?”

And just like that, the topic of the conversation changed completely.

After dinner was done and he helped his mum washing the dishes, his parents were ready to bed and he decided he could go up to his room and watch some TV show or movie in his old TV.

It was weird being in his room, it shouldn’t, but it was. He had gotten so used to his small, boring room in the dorms or Niall’s full of books room that now this one felt too big and empty even though it was full of his old stuff.

He lay on the bed and took his phone from his pocket, unlocked the screen and automatically called Niall.

The line beeped five times and Liam was about to hung up when it clicked, “hello?”

“Hey, babe,” Liam smiled at Niall’s voice, “you busy?”

“Nope,” the blonde explained stressing the ‘p’, “I was reading.”

“When are you not?” Liam let out a short laugh.

“When you’re with me.”

“True,” Liam nodded to himself and chuckled, “but not true, sometimes you read even when I’m with you.”

Then there was silence for a minute, “s- sorry.”

“Hey, I’m not angry, you just like books as much as me and you can’t choose sometimes so you decide to have both at the same time, I don’t blame you.”

Then Niall laughed, he actually laughed and Liam loved that because the blonde had a contagious laugh and it was probably the best sound he ever heard. Of course, he ended up laughing too.

“So how are your pa- parents doing?” Niall asked, coming back from his laughter attack.

“They are fine, my mum won’t stop talking about you though, I swear she’s in love you and she doesn’t even know you!” Liam sounded surprised because he was, but he was happy that his mother was happy about it, “I know you’re blushing, I can’t see you but I know you are,” he laughed. “Hey, we should sky-p” Liam said as he moved from his position of lying on the bed to a sitting one, reaching from his bag to take his laptop out.

“Alright.” Niall mumbled and reached for his own laptop.

“I’m calling you…” Liam started, moving his finger over the pad of his computer, “now.”

And then Niall’s face appeared on his screen. Liam hung up his phone and threw it somewhere on his bed behind him. “Hi,” he smiled at Niall, who had his hair resting over his forehead just how Liam liked it because really, it made him look cuter than he already was. “What have you been up since I left then?”

“Uhm… nothing really,” Niall shrugged, “just read.”

“Why don’t you talk to Zayn and you two go out somewhere tomorrow? I don’t want you locked in your room the whole weekend.” Because he knew that Niall was capable of staying there all day. He was the one that usually initiate activities and took him out of that room to the real world.

“Maybe I will. I need to go buy new books.”

Unbelievable. “You’re gonna need a new room just for your books if you keep buying them.” he laughed.

“You can let me put them in your room too.” Niall mumbled and looked away from the screen.

“Well that counts as a second room too. Maybe I’ll let you do that, most of the time we’re in your room so…”

They both stayed silent for a moment until Niall talked, “so how are you doing in there?”

And then Liam proceeded to tell him about his dinner with his parents and how much he had missed his mother’s food and how she wanted to take him over to dinner sometime, which would probably end in staying there because they were not going there for only a couple of hours. He’ll probably watch football and drink a beer with his father the next day and text him a lot and then call him or sky-p at night again until he was on his way back to college.

-

It was a great weekend for Liam. He got to spend time with his dad and watch numerous games and drink a beer while discussing which teams will get to the final and which players were the best of the season.  He also got to talk to his mum about his studies a bit even though she seemed a lot more interested in talking about his relationship with Niall. He told him about the blonde and she seemed to find him as cute as he did himself. He had let out some details though but he told him the most important, so he wasn’t lying to her. He even showed him pictures of them together, earning coos from her.

One of the main reasons he wanted to go back home is because he wanted to ask his parents for the key to the little house they had on the outside of London, a house they used to go when he and his sisters used to go when they were on holiday because it had a pool (not a big one but it was fine for them) and swings on the backyard. But his mother wasn’t too convinced when he asked…

_“Please, mum?” Liam begged, “is just for a weekend.”_

_“I don’t know, Liam, I don’t know if you’re ready to go there all alone, you’re just twenty and still irresponsible, and you’re going to go there with your boyfriend and who knows what you’re going to be up to…”_

_“I’m not irresponsible! And you’re treating me like I’m fifteen!”_

_“I know you think you’re an adult now, Liam but I’m not sure-“_

_“Is it because I want to go with Niall?” he was starting to get angry, “I thought you were fine with it! I thought you wanted to meet him!”_

_“And I do,” she explained calmly, “but you’re still teenagers and I, just like your father, want to take care of you.”_

_“But, mum-“_

_“I’ll talk to your dad and we’ll think about it.”_

_“So it’s not a no?”_

_“But it’s not a yes.”_

Now Liam was about to walk out of his house with his too big, stupid suitcase in hand and ready to go back to college and nor his mother or father have said a word about his request and he was completely sure by now that they had decided that he was too young and irresponsible for what he asked. Damn his parents, he was sure he could take care of himself for one weekend, he had been doing it since he left them to go to college, right? He wanted to ask, just to be sure, he’d rather hear them say no than facing the possibility that they made up their minds and thought they’d give Liam a chance but then forgot. But it wasn’t necessary, it was his mum who had gave him the key herself.

“Your father and I talked about it and decided we can trust you with this, okay? So prove us right, Liam.” Karen said, standing in front of Liam with the keys in her hand.

The smile on Liam face was so big he thought it was going to split into two, “thanks, mum!” he exclaimed, giving her a tight hug and going to take the keys but his mother took his hand away.

“Promise you’re going to be careful, yeah? Always lock the doors, and the windows and be careful when you’re in the kitchen and cooking so noth-“

“Mum, I promise. Nothing’s gonna happen. I’ll be fine.” He reassured her and tried to take the keys again but she moved her hand away again.

“And Liam,” she said more serious this time, “be safe.”

“Of course, I promise, mum-“

“No, Liam,” she kept her serious tone, “by safe I mean, use protection, _be safe._ ”

“Muuuuuuuuuum!” Liam whined. God, this was so embarrassing.

“I am serious, young man, I know you’re young and you’re full of hormones and everything, but please, think.”

“I can’t-“ Liam covered his face with his hands, “will do, mum. I promise” maybe if he just ended the topic it’ll be less embarrassing. He didn’t need to talk about this with his mother.

“Alright. We trust you, okay Liam?” she handed him the keys. Thank God!

“Thank you, mum.” He smiled as he put the keys in his pocket.

“Are we ready to go already?” his father came downstairs and walked towards them.

“Yeah, come on,” Liam looked his watch, “shit, I’m late already. We need to go now if I don’t want to miss the train.”

“I’ll go start the car then, say goodbye to your mother.” Geoff said walking past them and out of the house.

“I’m gonna miss you mum” he stepped forward and gave her hug.

“I’ll miss you too, Liam. We’ll talk soon, yeah? Have a good time, study and say hi to Niall for me.”

Liam couldn’t stop the chuckle, “I will. See you, mum.” He pulled away from her embrace and gave her a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his suitcase and walking out of the house and into the car.

Liam was thankful that his dad wasn’t one to give him sermons, just a few words to let Liam know he knew what he was up to and that he cared about him but his mother was the one in charge of all the talks. Well, all the talk except that one that is a man to man talk when you’re just a pre-teen and things start to get wild. That was one weird talk. But for now, he was happy that his dad had accepted his choice, maybe he wasn’t that comfortable about it but he was sure he’ll wrap his head around it soon, maybe when he gets to meet Niall.

The car ride to the station was less than ten minutes but still, when they were on the corner and Liam was about to get out of the car, he could hear and see, too, that the train was already leaving.

“Nooo,” Liam whined as the back of his head hit the seat of the car, “and the next train comes in like an hour, I hate Sundays.”

“I’m sorry,” his father said, “do you want to go back home and come back later? I’ll drive.”

“I don’t think I can take another sermon about safety from mum.”

“She’s doing it cause it’s the best for you, you know that.”

“Yeah,” Liam sighed, “but it still gets pretty old.”

“So what should we do, then?”

“Can we just go around a bit?” he shrugged, “not like I don’t know what’s around but it’s better than just staying parked here.”

“Alright.” His father turned the ignition on again.

It was afternoon already and now he had to wait for an hour to take the next train, he was going to be back late and he had classes in the morning. Great. Also, he needed to let Niall know that he’ll be late so he sent him a quick text.

_‘missed the train I’m gonna be lateeee :(‘_

He didn’t get a response right away, but he never really did because Niall didn’t really pay a lot of attention to his phone when he was reading; which was pretty much all the time.

_‘:( I’ll wait up then!’_

Yes, Niall wasn’t one to say much. Not even in texts. But he still found cute that the blonde wanted to wait up for him.

_‘don’t worry about it. I’ll wake you up when I get there if you’re asleep. love u’_

“Ice cream?” his father asked while still driving around and Liam turned his head and looked at him confused, “just for the sake of old times.”

He smiled and nodded then, “alright.”

*

Damn seats on the train couldn’t be more uncomfortable to sleep on. And he tried hard, but nope, couldn’t be done.

After a couple of hours that it took him to be back to the station in London, it was already night and he was not only tired but also hungry as hell, so he needed to do a stop at the store that was on the campus before going to his room or else he’ll die.

Good thing about Sunday nights in London is that there wasn’t that much traffic so his ride on the taxi wasn’t that long.

He bought himself a couple of sandwiches, and another one for Niall because well, he liked food and it’d be rude if he arrived without food to share. So after his quick stop, he made his way to the dorms and ran upstairs not even bothering to stop in the second floor in his room but going up another flat of stairs to the third floor instead when Niall’s room was.

He knocked on Niall’s door when he reached it and got no response from the blonde. He knocked again, just in case the blonde was reading and didn’t hear the door, but as he got no answer again, he slowly opened the door and saw that the blonde was, indeed, asleep.

He stepped into the room with his suitcase and was closing the door behind himself when he heard a small whimper. He turned around with a confused and worried frown on his face and noticed that Niall was moving on the bed, so he quickly left his suitcase next to the door and walked to the bed to sit on the edge. He noticed Niall had a restless face and his hand kept clenching and unclenching his hoodie that he had left there for him.

“Niall,” he whispered as he let his hand brush the hair resting on the blonde’s forehead, “Ni” he whispered again, and this time he got a whimper, but one of his name. “Niall, wake up” he tried shaking him a little.

“ _Liam,_ ” there was that whimpering thing again and Liam didn’t know if he should let him sleep it over or wake him up but- “ _Liaaam_ ” and okay, that was a moan, that was _definitely_ a moan. Wait- was Niall having a dream about him? A not so innocent one apparently?

He brushed the hair out Niall’s forehead again as it kept falling there over again because of the blonde’s movements but it was kind of unconsciously because he was trapped between two thoughts, he could press this forward a bit and see what happens or he could stop right there and respect what they had been doing all those past months and not screw up.

It was involuntary, but he leaned forward a bit, his lips barely an inch away from the blonde’s ear and whispered his name in a low voice, earning a chocked sound from Niall and his eyes suddenly fluttered open. Well, damn.

Niall looked at him with unfocused eyes like he didn’t know what was happening for a minute before his eyes went wide in horror and pushed his body further away from Liam and to the wall that was to his other side of the bed, clinging to the blanket over his body for dear life.

“I’m sorry!” Liam exclaimed and retracting his hand away, “I’m sorry, Niall, I didn’t mean to- ugh” he shook his head in disappointment, “I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me, I’ll go and-“ he started and went to stand up to leave but was suddenly stopped by a hand around his wrist. When he turned around to look at Niall, the blonde was looking at him with his blue eyes wide but with a mix of emotions that was hard to read. He could see Niall was embarrassed, his face all red and flushed, his  eyes were a mix of fear because how can he not be scared, he was probably defying himself by doing this but there was also desperation in his eyes like he needed this, he needed Liam.

“ _Liam,_ ” it was a whisper this time but Niall couldn’t manage to get another thing out of his mouth because the brown eyed boy was literally occupying his whole mind.

Liam decided that maybe, _maybe_ he needed to give this a chance; so slowly, he kneeled on the bed, bending down so he could press his lips to Niall’s. It wasn’t hard or rushed or desperate it was… they were lips pressing against lips and that was all it was, he needed Niall to make some kind of move or to give him some kind of sign to know he could do something. Now… not that he knew how to do this. He might have been waiting for something like this to happen for a while now, if not since the almost beginning of their relationship, but he knew Niall and respected him so it was just common sense and love to respect his times. But still, Niall was the first guy he’s ever been with so maybe he’s not scared but he’s a bit reluctant and unsure about what he’s supposed to do. He figures they’ll find out so this can be a pleasurable experience for the both of them.

“I missed you,” Liam whispered against the blonde’s lips, their breaths mixing together.

“M- me too,” the blonde murmured as he watched Liam change his position so he was laying on his side on the bed beside him, still leaving a small space between their bodies even though Niall was under the blanket and Liam was lying over it. He loved how after all this time Liam was still so careful with him but something inside him right now was telling him that he didn’t want that in that exact moment.

“’m not gonna do anything,” Liam spoke slowly and touched Niall’s cheek, “unless you, uhm…”

Niall blinked and kept staring at him, he had missed him, even if he was gone for just two days, he was so used to Liam’s presence, his voice, his hands holding his, his arms wrapping around him, his face, his eyes, his lips… and then he leaned over and kissed him because fuck everything, he wanted to kiss him and he wanted to feel Liam close in a way he had never felt before. His hands slowly let go of the blanket and made their way to Liam’s neck as they kissed, moving his body so he was pressing against his and he let out a gasp when he felt his erection pressing against Liam’s thigh. And it was so embarrassing that he felt his body tensing as he pulled away from their kiss to hide his face in the crook of Liam’s neck, his hands clutching his shirt.

“Hey,” Liam whispered to sooth him and wrapped his arm around the blonde’s waist, “this is new for me too.”

Niall didn’t knew how to answer so he just nodded against his neck, and if he was honest, that comment didn’t make him feel that much better, if that was what it was supposed to do, but at least Liam was being honest with him and the fact that none of them had done this before was something they had in common.

Maybe a minute passed in which none of them moved, they stayed in that position, Liam waiting for Niall to do something and the blonde waiting for Liam to make a move because he had literally no idea how to do this.

“Do you want to tell me what your dream was about?” Liam asked as his hand started to move slowly up and down the blonde’s back over his shirt. Niall felt himself tense because no, there was no way he would tell Liam about that dream, it was embarrassing, so he shook his head vigorously as his hands tightened their grip on Liam’s shirt. “Hm… okay. But was it any good?” Liam whispered next to his ear and Niall tried his best to suppress a moan that was threatening to come out but still Liam heard it even if it was muffled against his neck as Niall thrust his hips against Liam’s body.

Niall felt so embarrassed that his body was making him have such an awful time, like he couldn’t stop what any part of his body was doing, Liam was surely laughing at him inside his head. He tried to pulled away, let go of the older boy’s shirt and tried to separate from his body but Liam stopped him with the hand that was wrapped around his waist.

The blonde looked up at him, blue eyes wide and face embarrassed and Liam just sighed before letting him go and moved so he was sitting now.

“Listen,” he started, “I don’t mind about this, Ni, really, I don’t care if you’ve got a hard on,” he said, and extended his hand to Niall, who was still lying on the bed, to take it so he could sit too, “we’re twenty, this is completely normal. Actually, I’d be worried if this didn’t happen to you.” he chuckled. _Chuckled_ , only Liam could do that on a situation like this. “And I’m flattered that it is because of me,” he whispered that part as he moved closer to the blonde until his arms were around his waist and Niall was sitting in between his legs while his own where on each side of the blonde’s body, “I’m waiting for you to say something, you know how this works, Ni, you need to talk to me if want something, and if you don’t like it, then you know, you say the word and I’ll stop.”

Niall’s arms then made his way to over Liam’s shoulders and his face found its place on the crook of Liam’s neck again. “ _Please?_ ” he mumbled then. And for a minute, he thought Liam hadn’t listened to him because he didn’t say anything and they just remained in that position and it was so uncomfortable because really, he needed to get rid of that hard on soon because it was starting to hurt.

“You sure?” Liam whispered and his hands made their way under Niall’s shirt to rub circles on his skin and caress him as a way to calm him down.

Niall nodded against Liam’s skin and lifted his head to give him a short kiss. Liam smiled then, but a proper, honest smile and touched Niall’s cheek with his hand softly before kissing him again. He was just so happy and excited that Niall was opening like this to him, not because he had wanted Niall for a long time already or because he hasn’t had sex for a while now (and he was sure they weren’t going to go that far) but because this was a big step, any kind of physical act or contact has always been a nightmare to the blonde and Liam knew it and he had always respected him and look at them know, giving this big step in their relationship, he was amazed that Niall trusted him that much and he felt flattered.

Liam pulled Niall even closer to him, leaving almost no space between their bodies as they kissed and the blonde started pulling at the back of Liam’s shirt, he didn’t know as a sign of what though.

“Do you want me to take it off?” Liam pulled away from Niall’s lips barely an inch to ask and Niall nodded as a response.

The older boy pulled at the hem of his shirt and removed it and Niall placed his hand shyly on his chest.

“You’re so cute,” Liam smiled and brushed his hair.

Now that that big shirt Liam was using was off (he didn’t know why he used them, he had an amazing body and still he used those horrible shirts) he noted the bulge that was forming on Liam’s pants too. How was he going to do anything about this, he didn’t even know what he was doing!

A low moan erupted from the blonde’s throat when Liam placed a kiss where his jaw and neck joined together and he felt his hands touching up and down his sides under his shirt. If he was being honest, it was relaxing him instead of making him nervous, Liam’s hands were careful and felt warm against his skin.

“Liam?”

“Hm?” was Liam’s response as he nosed his neck.

“Can I g- get my glasses, please?”

“Oh,” Liam disentangled himself from Niall, “sure.”

The older boy turned around to grab the blonde’s glasses from the bedside table and placed them on his face, “there we go,” he smiled, “I love the glasses, they look hot on you,” and if Niall could get any more blushed, then he probably would have, “especially when you’re all flushed and with that sex hair” he chuckled and Niall slapped his shoulder in a playful manner. “Now, where were we?” he closed the gap between them again as his hands returned to Niall’s sides. He kept this up for a while when he realized that it helped Niall feel more relaxed and less anxious but something needed to happen rather sooner than later.

“Can I take this off?” Liam broke away from their kiss as he grabbed the hem of Niall’s shirt. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, just looking at him, and Liam opened his mouth to speak but cut him off with a short nod. “Alright then,” Liam smiled and slowly removed the piece of clothing from the blonde’s body. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.

“T- thanks,” he stopped himself from saying something about how he wasn’t because really, that was not the time to argue about it and he buried his face in Liam’s neck again, “you’re h- hot.”

Liam then stopped all his movements for a second, “wow,” he breathed out, “that’s probably more than I ever got out of you. Thanks, babe,” he kissed him again. “So…” he cleared his throat a bit and took Niall’s face in his hands so he was looking at him, “I’m doing this, yeah?” he looked Niall in the eye as he hooked a finger on the waist of his shorts.

Suddenly Niall could feel his heart beating frantically inside his ribcage again but he wanted this, he had told Liam he wanted this and now this was going to happen; he had no reason to doubt him, Liam would respect him. He nodded in approval then.

“Alright, just let me know if something feels wrong,” Liam repeated himself and Niall nodded again. This was it then.

Liam let his hand get into Niall’s shorts and boxers before he grabbed him in his hands, earning a gasp from Niall. He saw the blonde’s eyes close as he slowly moved his hand tentatively from the base to the tip. He used his free hand to tuck the waist of Niall’s clothes under his ball sack, just to make the movements easier, then letting that hand rest on Niall’s waist.

“You alright?” Liam asked him, watching his face closely as he started moving his hand to a slow but continuous pace. Niall let out a low hum in approval and then bit his lower lip. Liam’s mouth then started mouthing down Niall’s jaw and kissing his neck, stopping almost when he reached his neck to start sucking on the skin softly.

Niall’s breathing was starting to accelerate and small sounds were starting to leave his lips, encouraging Liam to quicken his hand a bit. He kept that up for a while until he decided to try something different by paying more attention to the head before stroking him up and down again and alternating these movements making Niall moan out and sink his short nails in the back of Liam’s neck which made the older boy groan in pleasure.

That was when Liam’s free hand left Niall’s waist to make its way into his own shorts and underwear to start stroking himself just as the blonde decided to open his eyes because he felt Liam’s hand leaving his waist. He felt a sudden urge to kiss Liam when he saw him touching himself because really, Liam was so hot it was making things to him and so he did, he felt somehow brave enough to smash his lips against Liam’s, both of them moaning into the kiss.

Niall’s arms left the older boy’s neck so his hands could roam down his body. He wasn’t sure of how to do that but Liam didn’t seem to be complaining so he let his fingers touch down his neck and along his collarbones, down his chest and his abs and… and then he didn’t even think about it when he let his left hand wrap over the hand Liam was using to stroke himself, moving it up and down with him.

Liam’s hand on Niall was still stroking him, slowly quickening the pace by the minute and using the precum he was leaking as some sort of lube.

They had stopped kissing at some point because of the need of oxygen but their mouths were so close they could feel each other’s breath.

The hand Niall had wrapped over Liam’s one left him for a second and Liam frowned, eyes closed, and was about to ask if something was wrong when the blonde’s hand was back but around his wrist and pulling his own hand away as if he was asking for permission to do it. He opened his eyes just to see Niall open his and he could see his pupils blown behind his glasses as he took Liam in his hand before he started moving his hand around his member. He tried to mirror Liam’s movements, stroking him slowly, then a bit quicker and playing with the foreskin.

This was kept up just for a little bit longer when Niall let his head fall forward, his forehead resting on Liam’s shoulder as he felt himself getting closer and closer to orgasm.

“ _Liam_ ,” it sounded more as a whimper than a moan.

“Come on, babe, let it go,” Liam whispered with a low voice next to his ear and that did it for him, cumming all over Liam’s hand with a soft cry. And he didn’t notice but he must have squeezed the older boy a bit too hard while riding his own high because then there was some sort of half moan, half groan before he felt Liam spilling his load over his hand.

Their strokes gradually slowed until they stopped, both of their faces resting on the other’s shoulder as their hard breathing started to calm down.

Liam was the first to move, lifting his head and moving his hand away, “tissues?” he asked and Niall mirrored him once again, letting go of his now softening length and looking up at him.

“First drawer,” he murmured and Liam nodded before turning around and using his clean hand to open the drawer and taking the tissues out.

They cleaned themselves and put their clothes back into place and threw the tissues away before falling with their backs against the mattress.

Niall moved closer to Liam and threw his arm around the older boy’s middle, “sorry” he mumbled.

Liam frowned as he wrapped his arm around Niall, “what are you sorry for?”

“You just arrived and- and, uhm… and t- this happened…” Niall felt himself blush.

“Hey,” Liam squeezed the blonde in his arms, “I got to see you almost naked, I am not complaining!” he joked and Niall let out an embarrassed sound and covered his face with his hands. “Seriously, babe, don’t worry,” Liam smiled down at him as he removed the hands from Niall’s face, “was it good for you?”

Was it even humanly possible to keep blushing? Because that’s what Liam seemed to do to him, make him blush all the damn time. He nodded and squeezed Liam’s side given that they were wearing no shirts. “You?” he mumbled out slowly in fear that Liam would say he didn’t enjoy it as much as he did.

“It was great, babe. You did amazing.” Liam kissed the top of the blonde’s head.

Silence fell into the room for a while as they breathed in unison and Liam let his fingers caress the back of Niall’s scalp softly as the blonde’s head was resting on Liam’s shoulder. Well that was until Liam’s stomach decided to complain about the lack of food in his system.

“Oops,” Liam laughed, “I forgot I was hungry.” He disentangled his body from the blonde’s to move to his suitcase to take out a bag with food. “I brought you some too,” he started to open the pack of sandwiches into the bag but stopped himself and his nose scrunched up, “I feel like I should wash my hands first.”

And Niall snorted. He literally snorted and then burst out laughing.

“You think it’s funny, huh?” Liam said with an amused face because of Niall’s sudden laugh attack and straddled his hips as the blonde was still lying down and started to tickle his sides.

“No!” Niall exclaimed, writhing under Liam’s body as he laughed, “N- no, ple- please!”

“That’s what you get for laughing at me!”

“I’m- I’m s- sorry!” Niall felt his eyes starting to water from all the laughing, “pl- please stop!” his voice was breathless now.

Liam laughed but obeyed anyway and helped Niall to a sitting position and wiped away a single tear that had fallen from Niall’s eyes, “come on, washing then eating.”

Liam helped Niall up and they walked the few steps from the bed to the small bathroom and take turns to wash their hands.

“Liam!” Niall exclaimed as he watched himself on the mirror with wide eyes.

“What?!” Liam asked alarmed.

“Y- you gave me a- a hickey!”

Liam laughed as he made his way to the sink to wash his hands and winked at Niall whose cheeks turned pink.

They made their way to the room again and Liam moved the pillow so he could sit in its place and spread his legs to make room for Niall to sit between them. The blonde opened the bag with the food and after a fight about who was going to eat which sandwiches that ended up in splitting every one of them into two so they could both have a bit of everything, they ate in silence and Liam felt like life was coming back to his body because weariness was starting to hit him after missing the train and the trip and well… this recent activity that included a bit of touching his boyfriend. He was not complaining about the last one though, he could live with that.

“Did you go out of here during the weekend?” Liam broke the silence as he took a bite of his sandwich.

Niall nodded as he chewed, “I went to the library, t- the one out of college, you know t- that one?” he asked when he swallowed his food and Liam shook his head no, making Niall laugh because of course Liam wouldn’t know it. “Me and Z- Zayn went there and bought n- new books.”

“Of course you bought books,” Liam rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at him before the room went silent again.

“So how are your parents?” Niall asked after a couple of minutes while they ate.

“They are good, I feel like I finally got the time to sit with my dad and watch a game, drink a beer and have a chat with him, you know? Like, I didn’t do those things when I still lived with them, it was cool, it’s like I made the most of it.”

“That’s good,” Niall mumbled, letting the weight of his body rest on Liam’s chest as he finished eating.

“And my mum is still as annoying as when I was still in high school,” he laughed briefly, “but I think it’s a mother’s thing, you can never escape from their maternal instinct,” he explained, making the two of them laugh, “she’s really excited to meet you. And by really, I mean really, really fucking excited.”

Niall felt his cheeks heat up at that, why would Liam’s mum would be so eager to meet him? He was nothing special. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I think she’s intrigued to meet the one who turned who I used to be upside down” he laughed this time.

“Does she think of me like that?” Niall turned his face to look at him with a slight frown on his face.

“No! Not at all,” Liam clarified, “maybe I talk about you a lot so she just wants to know you face to face, I don’t know, my mum’s always been like that.”

“Oh. Alright.” Niall nodded. “Sometime, then.”

“I got something from my parents too,” Liam said then, moving from when Niall was resting against him and walked to his suitcase and moved things around a bit until he found what he was looking for and letting out an ‘aha!’ when he did find it. He made his way back to his previous position in bed where Niall was looking at him with a questioning look in his eyes, then Liam put a single key in front of him.

The blonde grabbed the key Liam was holding and examined it with a frown, “w- what’s it for?”

“My parent’s holidays’ house outside of London!” the older boy exclaimed happily.

“Holidays’ house?” Niall asked confused.

“Yeah, we used to go there with my parents and my sisters when we were on holidays. It has a pool, not like, an enormous one but it’s a pool anyways,” he shrugged, “and swings. Oh, how I loved the swings when I was a kid” Liam added with a dreamy face.

“I loved the swings too,” Niall told him with a small smile, “I think I still do.” He giggled. “Why do you need the key? Do you need to go there for something?”

“Not _need_ ,” Liam shrugged one shoulder, “I thought we could go there sometime, for a weekend or something maybe.”

The blonde felt his cheeks heat up a bit as they went a soft pink at the thought of actually going out with Liam somewhere. Or maybe it was the fact that Liam wanted to take him somewhere pretty, or prettier than the college’s campus, and spent some time alone with him. It made his stomach feel funny but some kind of warm spread all over his body.

“Oh.” Niall blinked and Liam just looked at him, “that- that’d be nice I guess, y- yeah” he smiled.

“We don’t have to go right away, we’ll see how exams go, and my football games and all that stuff and then we can plan it and go spend some time there. It’s nice, I promise.”

Niall just nodded at his words and turned his face to place a kiss on Liam’s cheek before resting his backs against his chest again, “thank you.”

“What for?” Liam’s voice was soft against his ear as he wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist.

“F- for always wanting to b- be with me and spending ti- time with me.” Niall closed his eyes as he let his head fall against the older boy’s shoulder.

“Of course, Ni. Always.” He squeezed him in his arms. “Now, how does a nap sound?”

“Perfect to me” Niall mumbled, already feeling tired and sleepy.

Liam then moved carefully around in the bed until they were cuddled close in the small bed. Things couldn’t get better that day and Niall was being extra cuddly so he was going to make the most of it now.

“Hm, love you” Niall whispered as Liam threw the blankets over them and he placed a kiss on the blonde’s forehead.

“Love you too, babe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope it wasn't that horrible and that it was worth the waiting! (probably not though... *sigh*)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it took me a month to put this up, I've got no fucking excuses and I am so sorry.  
> anyways, this is the longest chapter I've ever written for a story, it's nearly 26K but I didn't want to put it up in two different chapters. I hope you guys like it!

“So, it’s fine that we’re going on Friday? You sure?” Liam looked at Niall after talking about going to his family holiday house the next weekend. “You sure you don’t have any papers to write or books to read?” he narrowed his eyes at him.

Niall’s eyes went wide for a second, “does that m- mean I can bring any books w- with me?!” he asked alarmed.

“Well, I thought we should get away from everything we do on a daily basis for the weekend…”  Liam explained to prove his point.

“And what are y- you not bringing?” Niall crossed his arms in front of his chest as if he was trying to look offended. Not that he succeeded because Liam then let his arms wrap around his shoulder.

“Uhm… I don’t know, a football ball?” Okay, now that was stupid.

“You never carry o- one with you” Niall looked at him with furrowed brows and confusion on his face.

“Fine, I’m not watching any football matches then.” But why though?

“B- but why? I don’t want you n- not to.”

“But it’s the fair thing to do, isn’t it?”

Niall sighed then and let his arms fall from his previous position, “i- if you don’t want m- me to carry b- books cause you think they distract m- me, you can just t- tell me, you know?” Niall’s voice was becoming softer by the end of the sentence and he had moved his eyes away from Liam’s face.

“No!” Liam exclaimed, “I just wanted a weekend for us free of whatever we do every day,” he sighed, “but okay, you can bring a book” he changed his mind and Niall gave a short nod and smiled, before Liam leant closer to his ear to speak, “but I can’t guarantee that I’ll allow you to read it.”

The blonde blushed and attempted to push Liam away but he just laughed and squeezed him with his arm.

“Now, we need to make a list of the things we need to carry with us.”

Niall thought that actually writing a list down was unnecessary, they were going to go just for two days after all, but Liam stressed the fact that he always used to forget something so he had made it a habit to write a list. There was nothing out of the usual in there, it’s not like they were going to forget to bring clothes with them after all, but Liam literally wrote everything down, like socks, underwear, shoes, towels, sunglasses, shampoo and all of that. Oh, and “sun block cause we don’t want you all sun burnt, eh Ni, or worst! Sun stroke!” ha ha, very funny, Liam.

So everything was settled now, next weekend they were going to Liam’s family holiday’s house to have some alone time. To think about it like that, to _call_ it like that, made Niall’s stomach feel funny, like there were butterflies inside his stomach or something. It was a nice feeling but at the same time it was a bit nerve wrecking because well, it made him nervous. Liam would never make him do something he didn’t want to do but Niall was still preoccupied about doing something stupid or embarrassing. Or what if stuff got heated and then he just goes and screws up because he has literally zero experience? It was true that things hadn’t stayed that innocent since that time but they never went further than that either. Well, except for that time when Liam blew him, which was extremely both pleasurable but embarrassing at the same time. The older boy had been nervous that time because he had never done that before but then again, Niall had never been on the receiving end of it either so how would he know? He had _attempted_ to return the favor but he was just so shaky and embarrassed that he couldn’t, and Liam, being the sweetheart that he is, he assured Niall everything was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. But ever since then, he didn’t let Liam do it either, because he felt like it wasn’t fair.

“Alright, I’m off to my football practice, I’ll be back later and we can keep talking about this, yeah?” Liam asked as he stood up from the bed, gathering his bag and throwing it over his shoulder.

Niall nodded, not knowing what else they needed to talk about, everything was already taken care off.

Liam kissed the top of the blonde’s head and walked to the door, stopping with his hand on the knob, “oh, and bring some nice clothes, too” he gave him a smug smile and a wink before opening the door.

Niall’s face turned into a confused one because why would he need nice clothes? “W- wait,” Niall stopped Liam just as he stepped out of the room, “why n- nice clothes? What k- kind of clothes? Like a- a suit? Cause I don’t have o- one.” Niall spoke all too fast.

Liam just laughed and walked into the room again, “not a suit, just nice but simple clothes,” he smiled and went to peck the blonde’s lips and then he was out of the room.

Niall might have stayed sitting there for two minutes or half an hour thinking _why_ he needed those clothes and that he didn’t have them. He stood up and walked to his small closet, rummaging through his clothes, searching for something that was “nice but simple” but he came across nothing. He’ll need to buy some but he really hated going shopping, especially because the mall was always full of people. He had only been there once lately because Liam needed to buy something, but just because he was there, it made it a bit better.

He sighed and grabbed his phone which was lying on his bedside table and unlocked the screen to look through his contacts. Not like he had a lot of them, and anyways, he was just thinking of one person to help him with this.

There were four beeps on the line before he pressed the ‘send’ button before a voice spoke, “hello?”

“Uh- hi, Zayn, are you b- busy today?”

*

“So we’re looking for something simple but that could pass by nice _nice_?” Zayn asked after Niall told him what it was all about as they entered the mall and the blonde nodded.

They had decided to meet on the mall because Zayn was already out and meeting there would save them time. And just was always, Niall still didn’t like the place.

“Alright, I say we go around a bit and see so you can decide what you like and then we go for it, that alright?” his dark haired friend asked and he nodded again. He was eternally thankful that Zayn had gave up whatever he had to do to help him with this because he really had no idea what he was looking for.

 

They walked around for around half an hour and Niall watched every shop window still not convinced by anything. He supposed he’ll know what he wanted when he saw it, but so far, nothing had caught his attention.

“You’re not much of a shirt person,” Zayn commented deep in thought even though it seemed like he was talking more to himself.

“W- what?” Niall asked because how was he not much of a _shirt_ person?

“I mean- buttoned up shirts, you’re not that kind of guy.”

“Oh,” Niall blinked then, realizing what his friend meant, “I- I guess not.”

“Alright,” Zayn nodded but obviously still thinking, “why don’t you go for something classic then? Like a simple white shirt, then you can wear a coat or a sweater, we can look for a nice one.”

Niall nodded as they kept walking around, watching every window shop. Not that finding a white shirt was hard but he was more worried about finding pants and shoes, which were also the most expensive things.

“Wait,” Niall stopped in front of a window and Zayn who had kept walking made his way back to standing next to the blonde, “I like t- that shirt,” he said, pointing to a light grey shirt with a small pocket on the right side of the chest, “it’s not- not white but…”

“But almost, you can pull that off, come on.” Zayn put his hand on Niall’s back to give him a little push as to enter the shop.

As soon as they stepped into the shop, a girl approached and asked if they needed help with something which had Zayn shaking his head politely, explaining that they were looking for an outfit but nothing specific. The girl nodded and told them to ask her if they needed anything before turning around and walking to fix some pile of clothes.

Niall made his way to the shirts section and started inspecting them, there was a range variety of colors and some of them with prints and patterns which were cool but nothing he could wear for the occasion. He found the light gray one he saw on the window of the shop and right next to it was one exactly the same but some kind of sienna color.

“I think I like b- both.” Niall said, holding a shirt on each hand as he showed them to Zayn.

“Maybe you should try both,” the dark haired boy shrugged.

“Okay,” Niall nodded slightly and made his way to the changing room of the shop.

He took his shirt off once the door of the small changing room was closed and looked in the mirror, he was so pale and so skinny, what did Liam even like about him? And it was even worst that he couldn’t put any weight no matter how hard he tried, it’s like he was stuck with this skinny, horrible body forever.

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and took the light grey shirt first and put it on and didn’t even look at himself in the mirror before going out, Zayn would know better anyway.

“Hm,” Zayn tilted his head to the side as he looked at him, “it’s okay but I don’t think I like that color on you that much,” he commented, “why don’t you try the other one?”

Niall nodded and made his way into the cubicle again, taking the shirt off and trying the sienna one on this time. He made his way out again and Zayn smiled at him as soon as he stepped in front of him.

“Now, this one I like better,” his dark haired friend kept smiling, “makes your skin look not that pale.”

Damn his pale skin.

“Uh, excuse me?” the girl who had received them when they entered the shop interrupted them as she peaked her head from outside the changing rooms. Both boys looked at her and she spoke again, “if you want a girl’s opinion, I think that one looks better on you” she smiled sweetly at Niall.

“Uhm, t- thanks.” Niall blushed.

“Oh!” the girl exclaimed, “I’ve got something that’ll go with that perfectly!” and then she was running of somewhere, leaving both boys to look at each other with confused faces.

The blonde looked at himself in the mirror meanwhile, the color did really suit him, he wasn’t really one to wear a lot of colors, he had always been the one to go for classics, black, white, grey.

“Here,” the girl appeared again and handed Niall a navy blue cardigan, “those two colors together look amazing.”

“Thank you,” Niall mumbled lowly as he tried the piece of clothing on.

“Those look great, mate, not gonna lie.” Zayn nodded at the blonde.

The girl smiled proudly at Zayn’s comment, “told you, it looks great on you!” she smiled at Niall. Well he wasn’t going to lie, he looked pretty good on those clothes.

“Think I should buy th- these?” Niall turned to look at his friend.

“I think you should.” Zayn smiled and Niall nodded, making his way inside the small cubicle to change into his clothes again. “Thank you,” Zayn gave the girl a polite smile.

“No worries, that’s what I’m here for,” the girl smiled back as he turned around, “I’ll be at the register!”

Niall was out of the changing room a minute later with both the shirt and the cardigan in his hand and walked across the shop to the register where he was met with the same girl and a guy. It took him a minute to get this part over with, he paid for his clothes, giving the money to the guy as he was handed a bag from the girl.

“Good luck on that date,” she smiled and winked an eye at him, making his eyes go wide as he fought to keep the blush off his face.

Zayn chuckled at his blonde friend’s reaction, “thanks” he answered for him before putting his hand on Niall’s back in order to leave the shop.

“How- how did she know?” Niall asked once they walked a bit away from the shop.

Zayn shrugged, “women are very perceptive, I guess.”

Next step was to look for pants to match his outfit, so they kept randomly walking around the mall when Niall’s phone vibrated in his pocket. There was a picture of Liam making a stupid monkey face in his screen that made him smile softly as he pressed the button to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Hey, babe! Where are you?”

“Oh- I’m in the mall with Zayn.”

“Oh, okay,” he heard Liam let out a short breath, “I got kind of scared when I didn’t see you in your room.”

“S- sorry. I forgot to tell you.”

“No, it’s fine, don’t worry. Well, I’m going to make use of this time to do stuff for class now that you’re not around to cuddle.” He chuckled.

“I’ll let you know when I’m b- back.”

“Alright. See you, babe!”

 

After wandering around for at least half an hour and not going inside any shop, he stopped dead on his tracks, Zayn stopping a few steps ahead of him. “I don’t even know w- what I’m looking for.”

“That’s what I thought,” Zayn let out a brief laugh, “if I were you and had those clothes to wear, I’d go with black pants.”

“Like- like the ones from a suit?” Niall frowned.

“No, something more casual… skinny like.”

“Oh.”

Zayn led him around the mall for five more minutes before entering a new shop and damn, did these people sell _only_ pants? Still, he kept walking next to his friend while he walked around the shop gathering clothes and then handing them to Niall.

“I need to try a- all of these on?!”

“Yeah, mate, I know they all look the same but I swear they are not, come on then, this might take a while.”

Niall huffed before making his way to the changing rooms to start the long process of trying every pair of pants Zayn chose for him.

After a while and after some comments from his friend explaining him why he shouldn’t wear the pair he was trying at the moment, they narrowed their elections to only two pairs, and of course, Zayn had him trying them again, but this time he let Niall decide, and as predictable as it could be, Niall decided for the simpler ones.

He swore he saw the guy working at the shop glare at them when he handed all the pair of pants back except for the one he was going to buy but it was only for a second and Zayn just shrugged before they walked to the register to pay.

“Shoes?” Zayn asked and Niall shook his head.

“I think I can ha- handle that with that I have.”

“You sure? Or maybe I can borrow you a pair of mine.”

Niall nodded as to say thanks to Zayn, but really, he didn’t want to spend any more money, he was sure Liam wouldn’t notice that he didn’t have new shoes, and even if he did, then he wouldn’t care.

*

It was Thursday now and Niall and Liam were at the college cafeteria, sitting in a far enough corner while they ate their lunch in peace while they arranged last minute decisions about their weekend travel. They were supposed to leave the next day as soon as they were done with their classes, Liam had even considered the fact that they should just skip them but of course Niall said no, so leaving as soon as they were done was the best he could get and this way they’d get a little more time away from college.

“Hello!” Harry and Louis approached their table and took a sit right next to them without even asking. Well, Niall and Liam were sitting one in front of each other so Louis sat next to Liam as Harry sat next to him.

“You’ve got anything ready for your weekend?” Louis asked wiggling his eyebrows, making Niall blush. Liam’s friends tend to make a lot of this kind of comments and even though he’s known them for a while now, he still couldn’t get used to them, after all, he wasn’t, like, close friends with them like Liam was.

“Yep, we’re leaving after classes tomorrow,” Liam explained as he took a bite of his pizza.

“But I thought you were going to skip classes tomorrow?” Louis asked chewing on his sandwich.

“Niall didn’t want to skip his class,” Liam shrugged as if it wasn’t a big thing. It wasn’t after all.

“Oh, come on, Niall, don’t be so-“

“Louis.” Both Liam and Harry cut him off at the same time.

“S- sorry.” Niall looked down.

“Don’t worry about it, babe, it’s fine.” Liam assured his boyfriend by putting a hand over his and squeezing it a bit.

“I need to finish packing,” Niall mumbled as he stood up to leave, squeezing Liam’s hand and giving him a small smile.

“Niall, I didn’t mean it like that, mate,” Louis tried to stop him, “you don’t have to leave-“

“No, it’s fine,” Niall shook his head and smiled at him too, “a- and I’ve got class later so… s- see you guys l- later” he waved at them awkwardly and started walking away.

“I swear to God, Louis.” Harry sighed heavily and shook his head while Liam glared at him.

“I told him I didn’t mean it like that!”

“You know how he is, you need to keep it down a bit, Lou, you know that.” Harry commented because how many times had they been through this already?

“Well, if the guy can’t take a joke then-“

“Shut up.” Liam said shaking his head at him.

“So!” Harry decided to change the topic, “a weekend alone with Niall, huh?” he wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“Not you too…” Liam groaned lowly.

“You think you guys are gonna… you know…” Louis asked moving his hand around.

“I’m still mad at you,” Liam turned his head to look at him.

“Oh, come ooooon, you can never stay mad at me for long!”

“I just hate that you keep doing that thing when you know Niall is very shy and insecure, why do you-“

“Guys, I changed the topic for a reason.” Harry interrupted him.

“I know, I just wanted to let Louis know that.”

“He knows that, he’s just stupid sometimes.”

“Hey!” Louis made an offended sound.

“Your fault, mate,” Harry shrugged. “So… Liam?”

“What?”

“Back to the previous topic, you know what I’m gonna ask, come on.”

Liam sighed and changed his position, leaning back against the chair then shrugged, “I don’t want to get my hopes up to be honest.” And that sucked. He hated this topic and hated when his friends asked about it, but what was he going to do? They were twenty after all, sex was something that, if it wasn’t spoken usually, then it was up in his head most of the time anyways.

“You’re being so patient, mate, I would’ve gone crazy long ago,” Louis patted his shoulder, “I admire you.”

“It’s just… I’m genuinely into him and I don’t want to push him that far if he’s not ready, you know?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, “but you’re doing the right thing, Liam.”

“I know.” Liam sighed.

*

Niall hated London and his rainy weather sometimes, not usually because he spent most of the time inside his room or at the library but today wasn’t one of those days. He had to go out of his room a couple of times because first, he wanted to go to the library (the one out of the campus) to buy some poetry book he saw so he could took it with him to his “weekend trip” and he decided to go out without an umbrella or his raincoat because it wasn’t raining yet he thought he’d made it before water started to fall. He didn’t. He didn’t and he was almost soaked wet when he made it back to his room.

Then, he realized he should make a trip to the store to buy a couple of stuff because he ran out of shampoo that morning and he forgot to buy, stupid, stupid Niall. Well, that among some other stuff. But mostly, he was hungry and he didn’t want the food from the college’s dinning so he was probably going to buy some food on that place on the corner, it wasn’t the best, but at least it was different. He took his raincoat with him this time but it was a bit chillier and he was cold. God, couldn’t he make things write even once this afternoon?

And then, he realized he should go withdraw some money from the cash machine because there was no way Liam would pay for everything during the weekend. He didn’t take his raincoat this time because the rain had stopped and cash machine wasn’t even that far away, he would make it this time for sure.

And of course he didn’t, it had started raining as soon as he started making his way back to his room but oh luckily him, he ran into Liam who was making his way back to his room from the store. It was a bit weird because the older boy seemed a bit embarrassed when he ran into Niall but the expression was gone in a second before Niall could ask about it.

“Why are you not wearing a raincoat? You’re gonna get sick!”

“I’m already s- soaked wet, it’s like the th- third time I go out this afternoon.”

“Why?” Liam asked as he got out of his hoodie and handed it to Niall, “here, put this on.”

“No!” Niall shook his head and pushed Liam’s hands away from his body, “y- you’ll get sick.”

“I won’t,” Liam rolled his eyes fondly, “come on” he said as he put the hoodie over the blonde’s shoulders.

They made their way back to the dorms while laughing at each other for being so dumb and being running under the rain. When they were a couple of meters away from the entrance door to the dorms building, Liam changed their path though, pulling Niall’s hand and guiding him somewhere else.

“Liam!” he laughed, “w- where are we going?”

“Shh, just come along,” Liam smiled at him mischievously but with crinkly eyes, so how could Niall say no to that?

Liam kept running as he circled the building still holding Niall’s hand. He stopped when they reached the back the building, looking around to see if someone was there.

“Liam, w- what are we-“ Niall started speaking but Liam was again running under the rain, “Liam!” he whispered yelled at the older boy while laughing again.

Liam stopped abruptly in a random spot under the rain, making Niall bump into him with a soft ‘oomf’ as he turned around, letting go of Niall’s hand to grab his face in between his own hands and bending over to kiss him. Niall tensed for a minute, being caught by surprise, but closed his eyes and relaxed a second later and wrapping his arms around the older boy’s middle.

None of them deepened the kiss but they stood there for a good minute before they pulled apart, opening his eyes slowly and looking directly into each other’s eyes.

“I always wanted to do that,” Liam chuckled but still looked a bit embarrassed by his confession, wrapping his arms around the blonde’s waist as Niall smiled and hid his face on Liam’s neck then, “you can cross that off the list.”

Niall lifted his face abruptly and looked at Liam with wide eyes, “h- how do you know about i- it?” he whispered surprised but with flushed cheeks.

“I was kidding,” Liam blinked as the rain kept pouring over them, “you have a list?” he lifted an eyebrow.

“N- no, I was ki- kidding,” Niall hid his face in Liam’s chest this time making the taller boy laugh.

“Come on, we’re gonna get sick,” he said as he removed his arms from around his body to take his hand and start walking in the building’s direction, “you need to show me that list though,” he whispered with a cheeky grin, making Niall blush.

They made their way to their rooms and as always, Liam would go up to the third floor with his and then go down to his room, that of course, when he wasn’t staying with the blonde, but given the circumstances of being all soaked wet to his bones, he needed to go to his room and get a shower and new clothes so he could finish packing after. So he kissed Niall goodbye when they were in front of his door and promised to see him the next day to start their much planned weekend.

 

Things didn’t turn out that fine for them on Friday though because when Liam went upstairs to Niall’s room as he did every morning that day, he wasn’t welcomed by a smiley Niall as he usually was, instead, there was a very flushed Niall with a blanket wrapped around his body standing in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked worried as Niall left the door opened for him to go in so he could go back to the bed.

“I’m n- not feeling very well,” Niall explained as he got into bed again, covering his body all the way up to his nose.

“I see that,” Liam mumbled as he sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on the blonde’s forehead, “Niall, you’re burning up!” he exclaimed.

“I’m cold,” Niall mumbled from under the blanket.

“Do you want me to take you to the hospital?” Liam asked him as he moved his hand away.

“N- no, I’ll be fine,” Niall shook his head, “I’m s- sorry for ruining o- our weekend,” he mumbled lower as he turned to lay on his side.

“No, babe, I don’t care about that, don’t worry,” Liam run his hand over the blanket covering Niall’s arm, “what’s important now is that you get better, okay? I can go look for the nurse.”

Niall opened his mouth to talk but was cut by a sneeze, “noooo,” he whimpered, “I’m- I’m fine, the fever will-“ another sneeze, “will go a- away,” he finished his sentence and whimpered.

“Bullshit,” Liam said under his breath, “I’m going to find the nurse, you stay here, alright?” Liam told the blonde as he stood up and well, where would he go anyway? In the state he was, Niall couldn’t even get out of bed.

“Liam,” he whimpered just as the older boy was about to open the door, “can you get me another blanket, p- please?”

“Of course, do you have any in your closet?” the older boy asked as he walked to the closet to move some stuff around as Niall nodded to him in response. “Ha! Here,” he found one on the very corner of the small wardrobe, taking it out and laying it on top of a shivering Niall, “I’ll be back in a minute, yeah, babe?”

Liam was out of the room in a heartbeat. Stupid thing Niall had to catch just when he was about to have his time alone with Liam for the whole weekend, surely this thing wasn’t his nervousness surfacing, right? Like, he wasn’t _that_ nervous about it…

He was slowly falling in a sleepy state, he had had a horrible night’s sleep, he felt tired and his muscles were sore, he didn’t want to move from his bed ever again, and just when he was about to fall asleep, he heard the door of the room being opened and footsteps approaching him.

“Just seeing him I’ve already got an idea of what this is,” the voice of a woman came.

“Ni, you still awake?” Liam’s voice was soft as he felt the mattress sinking a bit next to him.

Niall made some sort of ‘hmm’ sound, and Liam stood up again, making some space for the nurse to check on him.

“Niall? Are you awake, can you talk to me?” the woman’s voice came again and Niall slowly opened his eyes and nodded. “Can you tell me when this started and how you’ve been feeling?”

“Uhm…” Niall started as he moved so he was in sitting position, “last night I- I think, I don’t know, I felt really ti- tired and my stomach was hurting so I went to bed. Then I- I woke up at night because I was c- cold and I felt nauseated.”

The nurse was nodding to herself all the time as he spoke, “and did you throw up?”

“Uhm,” Niall looked to Liam standing behind the nurse and then casted his eyes down, “yeah…”

“Okay… anything else?”

“N- no, my nose it- itches a bit and I’ve been sneezing b- but that’s probably cause I- I’ve been out yesterday and it was r- raining.”

“Okay,” she nodded, “one more question then, have you eaten food from outside the dinning?” she narrowed her eyes a bit at him.

“U- uhm… from that place o- on the corner of the street, yeah… w- we go there sometimes.” Niall explained and the nurse shook his head.

“We’ve been trying to get that place to close for a while now,” she explained, “you’re not the first with stomach flu, it’s been going around lately, so it was probably the food and the fact that people already got it so the virus’ been going around, it’s called rotavirus,” she added to her explanation, “and all these symptoms appeared just last night?”

“Not really…”Niall tilted his head to the side and God, even his neck was hurting, “my stomach’s b- been hurting a bit d- during the week but I thought it was n- nothing.”

Liam pouted at him and gave him a ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ look so Niall looked away and focused on the nurse.

“Okay, now, the best thing you can do is rest, this way your body fights off the virus, so don’t worry if you don’t feel well enough to go to class during the week, this is going to take some time,” she explained and Niall looked at her with wide eyes because skipping classes? Hell no, “for the fever you can have some ibuprofen, or Tylenol would be even better, and drink lots of water,” she said as he took out a paper and a pen to write everything down, “you can drink those sport drinks too, and don’t worry if you can’t keep them down, that’s normal too, just take them in small sips.”

“What about food?” Liam asked her this time.

“I’d say mostly crackers, cereal, toast, rice and potatoes but nothing spicy or high fat foods, that’ll just make him feel worse. And no caffeine, alcohol and sodas either,” she explained to them as she kept writing down and Niall made a whiney sound, he couldn’t eat anything!

“What about all the sneezing, is he also going to get a cold?” alright now, Liam sounded like his mother.

“If he’s been out yesterday, and with his low defenses, it’s probable, yes.”

“This is- it’s contagious, right?” Niall asked as he moved around in the bed so he was lying down again.

“ _Very_ contagious,” she emphasized the word and threw Liam a side look, “try not to be all over him too much, don’t share his cutlery or glass or anything, if you are not too much in contact with him you should be fine.”

Well, that was going to be a hard one, wasn’t it? Liam said nothing though, just nodded at her.

“Now, have some Tylenol and get some rest so your fever goes down a bit, then you can take a shower and change the sheets once you wake up if you feel better,” she left the paper she was writing on Niall’s nightstand, “call me if you need anything, alright?” she smiled at them and Niall just nodded.

“Thank you so much,” Liam said as the nurse walked to the door.

“No problem, let me know if he needs anything,” she smiled.

“Will do, thank you.” he nodded.

“And sorry about it,” she said, lifting his arm to place her hand on Liam’s shoulder.

“Oh, ehm-“ he blushed, “it’s nothing.”

The nurse and smiled again a turned to walk away as Liam closed the door.

So that’s how Niall’s personal hell week started. During that Friday, Liam stayed with him despite his complains and even though he told him to go back to his room or else he’d caught this awful thing, but Liam was having none of it. Niall fell asleep all afternoon after taking the Tylenol and when he woke up it was almost eleven at night and his first thought was how the hell he was going to sleep at night if he just woke up that late. Liam had gotten him one of those drinks he always drank when he had his football practice. “Small sips, yeah?” the older boy had said as he handed Niall the bottle. At least that he did manage to keep down. Niall sent Liam back to his room to sleep when it was around two in the morning and he was falling asleep already, Liam had said he’d stay and sleep on the floor if he needed to but Niall threatened to get up from bed to kick him out if he didn’t go to sleep on his own room, and Liam, not wanting to take that risk (what an overprotective boyfriend he got for himself, huh) left with a huff and promising he’ll be there again first thing in the morning.

Saturday was pretty much the same, as he promised, Liam was there early in the morning, with some ibuprofen because he didn’t have any Tylenol in his room so he figured it’ll do for now and some tea and crackers he got from the dinning for Niall; he also got tea for himself too because it’d be mean to drink coffee in front of the blonde when he wasn’t able to. Niall thanked him and sipped his tea slowly as he ate just a couple of the crackers, slowly too, and he thought he had managed to keep them down but half an hour later, he was emptying his stomach into the toilet. Liam just caressed his back as he did and help him stood up when he was done.

That was pretty much how Saturday went, Niall slept through all afternoon again in which Liam read and did some stuff for his classes sitting in Niall’s desk. If he was being honest, he wanted nothing more than to get in bed with Niall, cuddle him and rub his tummy to try and make him feel better, but he knew he couldn’t if he didn’t want to get sick too and the blonde wouldn’t let him do it anyway.

When Niall woke up after his very long nap, he was feeling a bit better, so he drank a bit of water and ate some crackers again, this time even managing to keep them down. They talked a bit for a while, and Niall even read a bit as Liam finished whatever he was doing for some class before announcing he’d be going back to sleep because all his body hurt. Liam stayed for a while longer, maybe after midnight before going to his room, he kissed the blonde’s forehead and he saw Niall squirm a little before he left the room with a sigh.

 

It was around three in the morning, Liam didn’t even bother checking though but it must have been, when his phone starting ringing next to his head on the bed. The (too) loud ringtone scared him and woke him up, and he almost dropped him to the floor when he tried to answer when he realized it was Niall calling him, was he alright? Why was he calling at this hour?

“Niall? Niall, are you alright?” he answered the phone half asleep but in a complete state of worry and concern.

“Li? Can you p- please bring me some meds? I- I already took the ones you l- left here and my fever is b- back and I’m cold,” he coughed into the phone, “and everything h- hurts and I can’t sl- sleep,” he whined.

“Sh, sh,” Liam soothed him, “I’ll be there in a minute, hang in there, yeah?”

“Okay,” Niall mumbled low into the phone and then the line went dead.

Liam sighed as he stood up, and putting some decent clothes on before turning to his bedside table to open the drawer to look for some ibuprofen but realized he ran out of them. Fuck, was the pharmacy even open at this ungodly hour? He threw a hoodie on and ran out of his room.

Just as he had thought, the pharmacy wasn’t open and neither was the store. Damn, now what?

Harry was going to kill him for this but he had no other choice, really. He made his way to the other building of the dorms and upstairs to the floor where Harry’s room was. He knocked on the door restlessly until a very confused Harry opened the door.

“Liam?” he asked with a frown, “the fuck are you doing here? what time is it?”

“I don’t know,” Liam answered quickly, “do you have Tylenol?”

“wh-“ Harry should’ve seen his face, it turned into one of more confusion every passing second, “why do you need that now? Couldn’t you wait until morning?”

“Niall’s sick and he called-“ he started explaining but his friend cut him off.

“wait- oh right, you told me why you didn’t left, alright,” Harry nodded, still a bit confused due to his half asleep state before turning to walk back inside his room, leaving the door open for Liam to follow him, “let me see if I’ve got some left.”

Harry rummaged through his drawers in his bedside table and his desk, not finding anything and walking into his bathroom to keep looking. Liam felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out to see a text from Niall,

_‘you alright? did you fall asleep? I’m sorry for waking you’_

Damn Niall, why did he have to be like this? He was the one feeling ill and still he was the one apologizing for waking him, he’d wake up at any hour if Niall called, he should be apologizing for not being there soon enough.

_‘ran out of ibuprofen I had to ask harry, I’ll be there soon!’_

“Aha!” he heard Harry from the bathroom and he came out with a blister in hand and handed it to Liam, “here, you can have all of them, he’ll probably need them more than I do,” he gave Liam a short nod, “what did he catch by the way?”

“Stomach flu, it sucks,” he said, grabbing what Harry was handing him, “thanks, mate, sorry for waking you, glad it was you, Louis would have probably kicked my ass,” he shook his head at the thought because really, Louis would have gone mad at him for waking him to ask him for some fucking _Tylenol_.

“Don’t worry, you want me to go with you?” always so polite, Harry.

“No, don’t worry,” Liam waved his hand, “go back to sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks mate, really!” Liam said and left the room a second later.

He made his way back to the opposite side of the building walking as fast as he could (he didn’t want to wake anyone up by running in the hallways at three in the fucking morning) and went upstairs to the third floor.

He knocked on the door of the blonde’s room and opened it, stepping inside to find Niall sitting on the bed with his poetry notebook on his lap and a pen in hand.

“Writing a bit?” Liam asked as he approached him and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah… couldn’t s- sleep and wanted to take m- my mind off things,” he said, closing his notebook, “can’t write anything g- good though.”

“Everything you write is good, babe,” Liam smiled, then showed him the Tylenol, “I got this.”

“Sorry you had to wake Harry,” the blonde whispered and took the pills, “thank you.”

“Don’t worry,” the older boy shrugged, “you know Harry, he never gets mad,” he laughed, “let me get you some water,” Liam grabbed the glass from his nightstand and walked to the bathroom. “Here,” he handed it to Niall when he was back and the blonde swallowed one pill down.

“It’s s- so cold,” Niall shivered and lay down on the bed again.

“I know, it’s because of the fever,” Liam brushed some of his hair out of his face. “Oh,” his face lit up, “I know something that’ll help,” he stood up and walked into the bathroom again.

Niall waited on the bed, confused and still shivering under the blankets until Liam came back a minute later with a towel in his hands.

“Wha- ow!” Niall tried to move away from Liam who just placed a wet towel on his forehead, “that’s c- cold!” he exclaimed.

“I know, Ni, sorry,” the older boy looked at him with an apologetic expression, “but it’ll help the fever go down, yeah? My mum used to do this to my sisters and me all the time when we were kids,” he explained.

“B- but it’s cold,” Niall whispered again as his body shook harder.

“I’m sorry, it’ll get better, I promise,” he smiled, “how’s your stomach?”

Niall shrugged, but he wasn’t sure if Liam was able to see it because he was shivering so much and the blankets were covering his entire body, “I’m hungry b- but I don’t want to eat j- just in case.”

“You can have some crackers,” Liam said as he retreated the small towel away from Niall’s forehead and handing him one cracker, “I’ll be here if you can’t keep it down, don’t worry.”

Niall nodded as he took the smallest bite and started chewing slowly and watched Liam walk into his bathroom, probably to wet the towel again.

For about the next twenty minutes or so, Liam kept placing a wet towel on the blonde’s head, and when he stopped, he just sat there next to him on the bed, placing a hand over the blankets, where his stomach was and rubbed it softly. So far, Niall’s body had managed to keep down that one cracker he ate, that was progress, right?

“Sorry for waking you up,” Niall mumbled, eyes already closed as he turned around in the bed to lay on his side, ready to sleep.

“It’s nothing, love, I’m always here for you, yeah? Go to sleep,” the older boy kissed his forehead, feeling it cold because of the previous treatment he had gave him, at least Niall wasn’t shivering anymore, he’d like to think it helped.

 

The next morning, Niall woke up and it was almost eight in the morning. His muscles still ached like hell, yes, but he didn’t feel feverish anymore, at least yet. His face changed completely into one of sympathy when he noticed Liam had fallen asleep on his chair, his head resting on his arms on the desk. He slowly got up, wrapping his body with the blanket and slowly shook Liam’s shoulder.

“Li?” he whispered, “Li, wake up.”

Liam hummed low before letting his eyelids open slowly, focusing on the slim figure standing in front of him. “Ni?” he asked as he sat straight on the chair and stretched, fuck, his back hurt like hell, “what are you doing up? Do you need anything?” he rubbed his eye with his hand and stood up.

“No, j- just wanted to wake you so you can go back t- to your room to sleep.”

“No,” Liam shook his head, “I’m staying with you, how are you feeling?”

“A little better,” the blonde shrugged, “my back h- hurts but I think th- that’s for lying on the b- bed so much,” he explained, “really Li, you should g- go to bed.”

“You sure you don’t need anything?”

Niall shook his head no, “I’ll take a shower a- and go back to bed, I promise.”

“Then I’ll wait until you’re done and then I’ll leave if you want me to, okay?”

Niall sighed, knowing already that he wouldn’t win this so he nodded his head, “okay.”

Liam took the opportunity, now that Niall was showering, to change the sheets of his bed because fresh, new sheets always made him feel better when he was feeling sick, so he reckoned it’ll help Niall too.

It took the blonde no more than ten minutes to get out of the bathroom, already changed into new clothes. He headed to his bed and was about to lie down again when Liam stopped him.

“Uh-uh, young man, sit,” he said, gesturing with his hand to take a sit on the edge of the bed.

“What’s-“ Niall attempted to ask what was going on but Liam was already approaching him with his hair dryer, sitting right behind him.

“You’re barely avoiding getting a cold,” Liam explained as he started the dryer and Niall tried to hold it himself but Liam put it away from him, “let me do it.”

So for the next five minutes, they just sat there, Liam running his fingers through Niall’s locks as he dried his hair, he maybe took a while longer, not wanting to pull away and stop running his fingers thought the blonde’s hair, it’s just been a while and he missed him. Well, not really, actually just two or three days passed but it’s been two or three days since he last kissed him, held his hand or cuddled him, and that was a lot of time. Once Niall’s hair was dry, the blonde let his back rest against Liam’s chest with a sigh. Liam turned off the dryer and put it down on the bed, wrapping his arms around Niall’s waist and breathing against his hair. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds, then Liam moved his face and placed a small kiss on the side of the blonde’s neck and it was like Niall suddenly awoke.

“Liam!” the blonde tried to get Liam’s hand off of him but the older boy just tightened his grip, “y- you’ll get sick too!”

“Shh,” Liam soothed him and squeezed him tighter for a second before letting go, “I’ll be fine, babe, come on, get under the blankets,” he instructed as he grabbed the dryer again, turning it on as Niall got under the covers. He moved so he was standing next to the blonde’s face, who looked at him confused, as he lifted the blanket the tiniest bit to point the dryer under the blankets, this way, the hot air got trapped between the bed and the blankets, warming Niall’s body. “My mum used to do this too,” he explained as he retracted his hand and turned the dryer off.

“Wise lady, your mum,” he mumbled as he sighed in contentment and snuggled into the blankets with a small smile. “You can go b- back to sleep.”

“You sure you don’t want me to stay here?”

Niall shook his head no, “please, I want y- you to sleep in an actual bed.”

If he was honest, that sounded tempting, Liam’s back and waist were hurting from the position he had slept in on that chair last night and he wanted nothing more than to lie down in a bed and rest a bit. This time, it was Liam who knew he wasn’t going to win this so he sighed and nodded his head.

“Maybe I’ll get you some rice for lunch later,” he told the blonde who looked at him with shining eyes. Rice wasn’t even his favorite but just the thought of food though, he hadn’t had a proper meal in a couple of days now, “hopefully you’ll keep it down. Do you want me to bring anything else?”

“No,” Niall shook his head, “c- come on, go, Liam.”

“Alright, alright, no need to kick me out,” Liam laughed as he bent down and kissed the blonde’s cheek, “see you later, Ni.”

 

The rest of the week passed without many changes, Liam stayed pretty much all day in Niall’s room, watching him sleep, talking to him, they even watched TV together when Niall’s muscles stopped hurting that much so he could sit and move around a bit more. Well, all that when Liam wasn’t in class, because of course Niall made him go to class, no matter how bad he wanted to skip them to stay with him but Niall said he’ll be fine, and of course he was going to be, he just had stomach flu, nothing was really going to happen to him but Liam wanted to be there for him if he needed anything.

The first few days of the week, eating was still a bit of a hard thing to do for Niall, sometimes he managed to keep it down, sometimes he threw up, but luckily Liam was always there to comfort him.

What bothered Niall was also the fact that Liam was willing to skip his football practice, but he wouldn’t let that happen, so he burrowed Liam’s phone with some lame excuse, not that the older boy wouldn’t let him use it, he didn’t have anything to hide. So Niall copied Louis’ number from Liam’s phone, texting him quickly: _‘Liam wants to skip practice can you please tell him to go? don’t want him to have any trouble. this is niall’_

And that’s how two minutes later Liam got a phone call from Louis yelling at him to go to football practice as Liam glared at his boyfriend and Niall shrugged with an innocent face. Liam finally gave up and decided to go to practice, leaving Niall’s room not before kissing his forehead and promising he’ll be back later. As if Niall wouldn’t know that already.

Five minutes later Liam was gone, there was a knock on Niall’s door and a “it’s Zayn, can I come in?” so Niall yelled something like “yeah, it’s open!” and his black haired friend stepped into his room.

“Liam asked me to come look after you while he was at practice,” Zayn explained and Niall rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the small smile that creep over his features.

“I- I’m fine, but okay, haven’t seen you in a c- couple of days,” Niall smiled. And that’s how he spent the next hours, chatting to Zayn about books and poetry and classes. Zayn asked him about this poetry competition that Niall once told him about and was thinking about entering, but Niall just shrugged the topic off, not wanting to talk about it.

By the end of the week, the nurse came knocking on his door while Liam was on a class, so he had the opportunity to talk to her without having Liam all over him acting like an overprotecting mother. Don’t get him wrong, he was more than thankful for Liam sticking to him, he woke him up at three in the morning a couple of days ago for God’s sake but sometimes it was a bit too much. He told her he had been managing to eat a bit more during the past couple of days, that he wasn’t throwing up and that his stomach didn’t hurt that much anymore, and also that his muscles didn’t feel that awful all the time. The nurse nodded and told him he could start eating a bit more, maybe something like chicken, not spicy or fried, and maybe a bit of cheese, something that wasn’t too invasive to his system.

Harry and Louis had been to his room once or twice during the week too, to check on him and to talk to Liam into actually give Niall some space because he wasn’t a kid anymore and he was doing better, so Liam didn’t have to be all over him all the time. That didn’t affect Liam that much, he just shrugged and moved to the blonde’s bed, lying on top of him and wrapping his arms around Niall’s covered with blankets body, causing his friends to roll their eyes at him.

Liam had also been pushing him to let him sleep in the same bed again once it was Thursday, alleging that he was much better now and that he wouldn’t catch a thing. Niall had still said no, wanting to be careful, that way he’d be able to recover completely and keeping Liam safe away from this awful virus. It was stupid really, how they were both being so overprotective towards each other, Liam babying Niall as if he was a four year old not capable of doing anything and Niall not letting him come close like he had the plague. But deep inside, Niall was doing this in hopes to get better for the other week, so they’d be able to make their trip and have their weekend alone.

The next Saturday, Niall woke up covered up till his nose with blankets and opened his eyes and frowned when he realized he was so close to the wall he couldn’t see a thing. He tried to move but there was something stopping him from it. He looked down to realize that it was Liam’s arms what was stopping him from moving. He tried to turn around in his place only to be stopped by Liam’s arms tightening his grip and a groan. Liam didn’t even got under the blankets, he just lay there on top of them, spooning Niall from behind, his arm resting around the blonde’s waist.

“Liam,” Niall tried to wake him but didn’t get any response, “Liaaaam,” he sing song’d now, getting a hum in response. Ugh, he was too hot and he really needed to use the bathroom. “Liam!” he exclaimed this time and started moving as to lose Liam’s grip on his body so he could turn around.

“Wha-“ a sleepy and confused voice came from behind him as he loosened his grip on Niall’s, something the blonde took advantage of, turning his body so he was now facing Liam, “oh, hey,” the older boy smiled lazily, his eyes still half closed.

“Hey,” Niall smiled, “what are you doing in here?”

“Uhm-“ Liam looked away from Niall’s face as if he was embarrassed, as if Niall was going to telling him off for sleeping in there with him when he had told him the whole week not to, “ I missed you,” he mumbled out low.

“I missed you too,” Niall whispered and lifted his head to place a kiss on Liam’s cheek and heard him sigh, “but I really need to use the bathroom now.”

“Oh,” Liam reacted suddenly, sitting on the bed so Niall could get out of it, “sorry, babe” he apologized as he lay down again.

Niall climbed over Liam’s legs and got out of bed, almost tripping during the process but made it to the bathroom quickly. He was back a minute later though and Liam was in the exact position he was in when he left, lying on his back with his hands behind his head. The older boy looked at him when he made his way back to his spot on the bed, “how are you feeling today?”

“Good,” Niall shrugged, “at least nothing hurts anymore, maybe I’ll try eating something more this time.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Liam turned to his side and rested his head on his hand, “if you’re better then can I pleeease get a kiss? It’s been like a millions years!” he pouted.

Niall rolled his eyes, trying to hide the fond and the blush that appeared on his cheeks, “b- but if you get sick you can’t bl- blame me.”

“Promise!” Liam’s eyes lit up as he leaned in closer, making Niall let out a light chuckle before leaning in to kiss Liam, but what he didn’t expect, was the older boy’s hand moving to his neck to hold him, trying to deepen the kiss; that had Niall placing his hands on Liam’s chest, pushing him slowly to stop him. The older boy made a complain sound before detaching his lips from the blonde’s one and then sigh, “better than nothing,” he said, eyes still closed and Niall chuckled. “Turn around.”

“Why?” Niall asked but still complied and Liam threw the blanket over their bodies before letting his arm circle the blonde’s waist.

“It’s Saturday, we get to be lazy all day,” Liam explained, nuzzling his nose against the back of Niall’s neck as he let his hand wander under the maybe too big shirt Niall was wearing.

“L- Liam,” Niall whispered, trying to get his voice to come out not too shaky as his body tensed slightly.

“Sh,” Liam soothed him, “it’s just this, I promise,” Liam answered in a whisper too, as he let his hand rest against Niall’s stomach, starting to rub small circles with it.

Niall hummed in contentment and let his body relax again, letting out a low hum once he realized Liam didn’t really have more intentions other than rubbing his skin with tender touches. It wasn’t that Niall didn’t want to give that final step with Liam, nothing like that, he was nervous and it was a bit scary, of course, he wasn’t going to deny that, but after all these months in which Liam had been so patient and caring, and this week in which he had take it personal to take care of him, he felt like he couldn’t trust Liam with his life more than he did. Liam has proved to him so far, that this wasn’t just a fling, that he wasn’t going to leave when Niall showed any insecurities or fears, that he was taking this relationship seriously and that he wanted this. That’s why he had been looking forward to their weekend alone so much, and now who knows when Liam would be able to go there, maybe in weeks… or not.

“We’re still leaving next weekend, right?” Liam’s voice came after minutes of silence and his voice was so deep, so charged with sleep already, Niall had thought he was asleep actually.

“Uhm… yes, I- I mean if you still want to go…” the blonde replied, he could feel his heartbeat racing in his chest and his cheeks warming up.

“Of course I want to,” Liam tightened his grip on Niall’s body slightly, almost lazily, and after that there was silence, and this time, Niall could feel the even raise and fall of Liam’s chest against his back indicating he had fallen asleep.

*

The week had passed tortuously slow for both them, their heads being set just in the weekend they were going to be spending alone and away from everyone. Niall had returned to his classes after his week of being locked up in his room, he still had things to catch up with but nothing he couldn’t deal with. Liam, on the other hand, had been so damn hyper no one could keep up with him, not even Niall, his boyfriend was so jumpy and happy and moving around all the time he seriously thought he was high or something. But if Liam was being honest, he hadn’t been paying attention to any class and he hadn’t been doing any work for them either, also, the only reason he went to football practice, was because it helped him release all the energy he had pent up inside him, but he had to deal with his friends’ questions about it.

“So what’s got you like this?” Louis had asked him once their practice was up and they were heading to the locker rooms.

“Like what?” Liam frowned even though he knew well what his friend was talking about.

“Like… so full of energy, you always run a lot but damn, you’ve ran three times more than usual today.”

“Oh, just…” Liam shrugged, “I’m excited about leaving on the weekend,” he explained and luckily for him they had just entered the changing room, so he headed straight to his locker, not letting Louis see the blush that tinted his face.

“Oh, I see how it is,” the older of the two wiggled his eyebrows at Liam even though he wasn’t looking but Liam could feel the teasing in his voice, “you’re finally getting some, ay mate?”

“Why do you have to put it like that?” Liam groaned in frustration. Deep inside he did hope he’d ‘get some’, how Louis liked to put it but still, he didn’t want to set his aim too high for the weekend, there was still a chance that it would not happen.

“What else could have you bouncing like that then?” Louis replied and laughed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Shut up,” Liam groaned again as he headed to the showers.

“Use protection!” Louis yelled from his locker and Liam just speeded into the shower, mentally scolding himself for having such friends.

 

Niall wasn’t so lucky to get out of that talk, it happened on Thursday to him, while Liam wasn’t hanging out in his room but instead Zayn was as he finished putting stuff into his suitcase, his friend helping him not to forget anything.

Zayn had been helping him recollect all that stuff like shampoo, deodorant, some hair products he had gotten for Niall because “if you’re going on a date while being there you have to do your hair, Niall, like it or not” and some other things, gathering them all in his bed before putting them in the bag that was going to be inside the suitcase too later. It was a bit uncomfortable, not for Zayn though, but for the blonde, because Zayn had meant to take out all the stuff that was inside that bag so he could use it, not realizing that Niall had already done that before and that he had placed some stuff in there too, so when Zayn took out a pack of condoms and small bottle of lube and held them in his hand and blinked, Niall’s face went pale as a ghost first as he suddenly stopped moving before feeling his face go red as a tomato as he suddenly reacted, almost ripping the items from Zayn’s hand, “shit, I’m s- sorry, uhm-“

“Hey,” his friend placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed him, “I’m not judging you, alright? It’s fine,” Niall let out a sigh of relief and felt his shoulders go down at Zayn’s words but his face wasn’t any less blushed, “sit here a moment, yeah?” Zayn asked as he sat on the blonde’s bed, watching Niall sitting slowly and looking nervous and embarrassed. “So you two haven’t done this thing yet, huh?” his friend asked with a soothing voice and a small sympathetic smile on his lips.

Niall looked down and shook his head no, embarrassed and afraid that Zayn would laugh at him because he had decided to wait so long to do something that was apparently not a big deal to anyone.

“That’s okay, it’s fine that you decided to wait, it’s your body after all,” his friend commented still with a smile on his face and a slight shrug, “just- just one thing, yeah?” Zayn added and Niall looked up at him to realize that not only his voice had gone serious but his face had too, “look,” he sighed, “I’m happy that you trust Liam and feel comfortable enough to think you can do this with him because really, it’s the best feeling in the world,” he started and Niall couldn’t help but feel a little hot only thinking about it, “and Liam doesn’t strike me as a bad guy, he’s proved that to me, but most important, to you, that he cares and that he respects you, but- but if you feel like you’re not ready, even if you feel now, but if change your mind even one second before doing it,” Zayn stopped for a second, “then stop him. I know how much of a big deal this is to you and I want you to have fun but I also want you to be careful, alright, you two have worked so hard to get where you are, it’ll be a shame if it all went downhill for something so trivial.”

Niall felt shocked, flattered even at Zayn’s words, he never thought he would be someone to say that to him, to care about him that much, he was aware that his friendship with the black hair boy had grown immensely with the passage of time but he was literally shocked that it had come to this, really, maybe he didn’t have any friends except for Zayn but shit, if that wasn’t being an amazing friend then he didn’t know what a friend was.

Niall stared at his friend for a couple of seconds and blinked before nodding slowly, “thanks Zayn,” he offered a small smile, “you’re a great friend.”

“Of course,” Zayn smiled at him and threw his arm around the blonde’s shoulders, “always, mate. What are friends for if not for this, right?” he laughed slightly, making Niall smile and chuckle, “now why don’t you put those things into the bag so we can finish doing this, yeah?”

*

It was Friday already and both Liam and Niall were done with his classes and with his suitcases in hand as they left Niall’s room. They had said their goodbyes to their friends even though they were leaving for only two days. Louis had wiggled his eyebrows at him again and Liam glared at him just as Harry nudged in the ribs as he smiled at him and Niall. Zayn, on the other hand had hugged the blonde and said something in his ear that he couldn’t quite hear but he let it go, maybe he’ll ask later.

Now they were into a cab on their way to the train station, it wasn’t going to be a long trip which was good because you could notice Liam trying to restrain from bouncing around everywhere. He was super excited and Niall could see it, he was too, but he was also very nervous about it.

Luckily for them, there wasn’t that much people taking the train at that time of the day so they were able to find some nice seats where they first sat together, their suitcases right next to their legs but after maybe one station, they were almost curled up into each other, holding hands while Niall’s head rested on Liam’s shoulder and their legs hooked one over another.

 

They were too comfortable (for being in a train at least) when it was time for them to get off the train. They had spent most of the time in silence, looking out of the window and barely exchanging words, mostly Liam just telling him about some thing that happened to him in there when he was a kid or about some place he’d like to go with him. Niall just nodded and made some ‘hum’ sound to express his approval.

Once they were off the train and into a new cab, it took them just a couple of minutes to reach the house. Bless the streets of the outside of London with no traffic. Not that they were out of the campus that much anyways…

“We’ll probably have to do some cleaning,” Liam commented as he struggled to get his keys out of his too full of stuff bag, “no one’s been here in a while so… sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Niall nodded and helped Liam to close his bag again now that he got his keys out, “it’s only fair, your parents let u- us come here so we do a bit of cl-“

“Or not,” Liam cut Niall mid sentence when he opened the door. “What the-“ he stepped inside with a frown, Niall walking right beside him and closing the door.

“There’s a note here, Li,” Niall told him when he realized there was a small piece of paper with their names on it on the small table, or more like a shelf, next to the door where Liam placed the keys.

“Liam and Niall, smiley face- oh my God,” Liam groaned as he started reading the note out loud, “did all of the cleaning before you came, hope you enjoy your stay. Please be careful! Have a great weekend, mum.”

“That’s a great gesture, we should call your mum and t- thank her.”

“I’ll send her a text later,” Liam turned to Niall and wrapped his arms around his waist, “what do you want to do first?”

“Uhm…” well he didn’t know what was there to do but eating sounded like a really good plan right then, “get some food?” he smiled slightly.

“Of course,” Liam nodded and kissed the blonde’s forehead, “lunch sounds great.”

 

Turns out that Liam’s mum not only cleaned the house, but also bought food for them, so after getting all their stuff into what will be their room for the weekend, they made their way to the kitchen and prepared something simple, just a salad and a couple of sandwiches because they were too lazy to actually cook a proper meal.

“So, what should we do now?” Liam questioned as he put their dishes in the sink.

“Uhm…” Niall rested his face in his hand with a thoughtful face, “we can go out so you can show me around?”

“Sure, there’s not a lot around to see but we can go for a walk, I guess,” Liam nodded and went to exit the kitchen as the blonde stood up to follow him into the room, “oh! I just remembered,” Liam commented suddenly with a tint of excitement in his voice, “there was this really cool place where they did the most amazing milkshakes when I was a kid, can we go see if it’s still there? Please?” Liam turned around to look at Niall with big eyes and pouty lips.

“Of course we can,” Niall laughed and leaned forward to kiss his cheek as Liam cheered quietly.

 

It was true, there wasn’t much around to see, the neighborhood was pretty much just houses, some big, some small, but they all had gardens at the front with nice plants and pretty flowers. Liam did most of the talking, telling Niall about the houses he remembered and some people he could think about that he had met there. There was a place like a mall that Liam didn’t remember from when he was a kid, so they made their way there and walked around looking the different shops though it didn’t take them too long until they were done, that place wasn’t nearly as big as the mall in the center of London.

They were heading towards this street in which Liam remembered (at least he thought he did) the “milkshake place”, as he used to call him when he was a little boy, when they came across a library, one that looked really old, and Niall had just turned to look at him with those big blue eyes like he was begging him silently to let him go in there, and of course Liam couldn’t say no, he just rolled his eyes at him fondly before putting his hand in his back and pushed him softly towards the door. Niall turned around and pecked him in the lips before going in there. It never seemed to amaze Liam how much Niall loved places like this.

Niall was in heaven, really. The place was full with books he had once heard about or saw on the internet but that he had never had the chance to actually see in real life. The place looked old, with dark wood bookshelves and dim lights that gave the place a quiet environment. Niall moved around the shelves, looking everywhere like he couldn’t get enough, couldn’t look all the books fast enough. He moved around and around and Liam just followed him around, not really keeping up with all the talking Niall was doing to himself. A lot of the books resting on the shelves were old and looked like they already belong to someone before, some of them were so old the pages were some kind of pale yellow. Maybe this was one of those shops were you could go sell your books or exchange them for a new one.

Finally, after who knows how long, he chose a couple of books, a couple being like… six of them. They walked to the front of the shop again, where and old woman was sitting behind a register, smiling softly at Niall and with a spark in her eyes, “it’s good to see there’s still young people interested in this old books,” she told him as he handed her the books, “and all poetry ones.”

“They are my favorite,” Niall replied softly as he took out his wallet.

“They are my favorite ones too,” she just kept on smiling as she managed to put all of the books into a bag and handed it to Niall, who handed the woman money in return. “Enjoy them” she handed his change back and smiled.

“Thanks,” he nodded and smiled politely, heading to the door with Liam on his heels. “I’m sorry it took me so long, there were just so many books I’ve always wanted to read,” he commented dreamily as Liam went to hold his hand.

“It’s alright,” Liam smiled at him, “we can come back before we leave so you can get more of them, maybe I’ll buy them for you, who knows,” he shrugged but threw him a knowing smile, “but no reading until we’re back, yeah?”

“I know, I know,” Niall sighed, “this weekend is just us” he nodded.

“Just us,” Liam squeezed the blonde’s hand in his.

They walked silently for a couple of minutes until they reached their previous destination, the milkshake place. It didn’t look the same way Liam remembered it from when he was younger, it was kind of modernized but it was still the same place. They choose a table far away from the front and away from most of the people and a minute later a short girl with a big smile approached them to take their orders. They both have chocolate milkshakes but different kind of cakes.

It didn’t take too long for their orders to be settled on the table in front of them and Liam let out a happy sigh when he took a sip of the milkshake, “yep, still as good as I remember them to be.”

Niall leaned forward and took the straw in between his lips, taking a sip of it, “amazing,” he muttered.

They spent around an hour sitting there while drinking and eating happily. Liam told him about all the times he had had to begged his mum to bring him there as a child. He remembered that one time he had gone crazy and asked his mother to let him order some mint and chocolate milkshake, and his mother had said no, of course, because she knew he wouldn’t like it, but Liam had claimed that he was old enough to make his own decisions and he wanted a mint and chocolate milkshake, so not without laughing first, she ordered their waitress that one for him. It had been a terrible mistake. A horrible, gross mistake. He hated it, he hated that thing and why would someone put mint in a chocolate milkshake, why? Her mother had laughed again when she realized that Liam hadn’t touched his drink after ten minutes of trying it, she had shaken her head at him, “you’re drinking that now, young man,” Liam made his imitation of his mother and Niall laughed, and after much telling her mum that it was a gross thing, it was his father who let him had his vanilla milkshake one.

They paid the girl once they were done with their food and made their way out of the store, starting to make their way back to the house. They had gotten across a park halfway there and decided to sit around for a bit, it’s been a while since any of them had the time or the chance to go out like this. Liam loved the park when he was a kid, specially the swings.

They sat on a bench under a tree, away from the kids yelling all the time while playing and their parents, and Niall rested his face on Liam’s shoulder, their hands still clasped together. It was silent for a moment, both of them just taking in their surroundings until Liam spoke, “can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Niall nodded against his shoulder still looking ahead. He wasn’t worried about what Liam might ask because his voice didn’t sound nervous or worried or anything like that, so that meant there was nothing to be worried about. He had come to know a lot about Liam and the way he expressed himself in the last months.

“What changed?” Liam spoke softly, “I mean, between us, what changed?”

Niall frowned at that but still didn’t change his position, “what do you mean?”

“I mean…” Liam started but stopped for a couple of seconds, as if he was thinking of a way to put his thoughts into words, “remember how hard it was for you at the beginning of the relationship?” he asked and Niall could feel his cheeks heating up a big at the memories, “like, before our, uhm… our fight,” he explained, “they way you talked to me, or the way you behaved when I was around, you remember that?”

Niall nodded again, “I stuttered a lot.”

“Yeah, that… I know it got better with time like, as months passed you just didn’t do it that much, and I was so proud when I noticed you were feeling more comfortable around me, like- like proud about you and proud about me, proud of us because we were making it work. And then when we fight and- and we started over again after it, it just got better and better,” he kept talking and Niall just had no idea where this was going, “but lately, the last couple of weeks, you just- it stopped, you know? That’s what I mean. What changed?” Liam finally stopped his rambling and huh, good question, Niall hadn’t really thought about that.

“I think…” he started as he lifted his face, turning to look at the older boy properly, “I think that during all this time you kind of, like, “proved””, Niall said, making air quotes with his free hand, “to me that this wasn’t just a fling for you or that you weren’t going to leave because of how insecure I was,” he shrugged.

“I thought I made that clear at the beginning,” Liam tried not to frown at the blonde’s words.

“I know, I never thought you weren’t being honest, but it was nice to see that you were trying to adjust when it should have been the other way around. And after all these months you showed me and taught me a lot of great stuff, things I didn’t know about, feelings mostly,” now he was on a rant and maybe he didn’t need to explain all of this, just go straight to the point but he wanted to let Liam know how much he appreciated him and all that he’s done for him, “and you know when I got sick the other week, and you stayed  with me, stayed even when I told you not to, you didn’t care, and like, something clicked suddenly, I guess,” Niall still explained, his voice soft and looking down from time to time, “you made all these things for me then, brought me painkillers and food, change my sheets, dry my hair, you even fell asleep on my desk,” he chuckled at the imagine of that day popping on his mind, “and it was so extremely sweet and then I realized that I wanted nothing more than letting you know that I trust you, I’ll trust you with my life.”

“That is so nice and sweet of you, Ni,” Liam smiled at him, bringing his free hand to caress the blonde’s cheek, “I know and I’m happy that we got this far, I’m happy that you feel that way about me.”

“Least I could do, couldn’t I?”

“The stutter was still cute though,” Liam chuckled.

“I can still do it a bit if you want?” Niall chuckled too at that.

“No, no,” the older boy shook his head, “I like this confident Niall,” he brought their hands up and kissed the blonde’s one.

“I wouldn’t say confident, but I’m working on that” Niall could do nothing but blush.

“You’re amazing, believe me,” Liam smiled up at him with crinkly eyes and everything before leaning forward to give him a short kiss and Niall smiled too.

“I think we should go home, can’t believe we just had this conversation in a park,” he giggled and giggly Niall was so stupidly cute Liam wanted to tackle him and hug him tight and never let him go, but as he said, they were in a park and that couldn’t be done, so yes, better get going and then he can do that at home.

The walk back was mostly quiet, but not necessarily uncomfortable, there wasn’t much left to say right then after that conversation and Liam felt like he was floating around after Niall’s confession.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent cuddling and watching TV, dumb romantic comedies while they lay together on the sofa and then boring TV shows that none of them was really paying attention to, too wrapped up in their own little happy bubble.

They had a late dinner, having had those milkshakes during the afternoon, they weren’t hungry until past dinner time but who cared, it was their time and they could do whatever they wanted. After trying to decide what to prepare and first, couldn’t make up their minds, and second, too lazy to cook because none of them was a big fan of cooking, they decided to order some take out.

The food was great, they had ordered from some Chinese place because it’s been a while since they both had some of it, and after they were done, they washed the dishes, because the ones from lunch were still sitting in the sink, so Liam washed and Niall dried.

Tiredness started to wear in once they were done, so they both decided it was time to head to bed, after all they had had classes that morning and then the train and all their walk in the afternoon.

“Which side of the bed do you want?” Liam asked him as they entered the room.

“Uhm- I don’t know,” Niall shrugged because really, it was whatever, “I always sleep on the left side but if you want to sl-“

“No, no, that’s great, I wanted the right side anyways,” the older boy smiled up at him.

It was weird, getting on a bed together that wasn’t small as the ones they had in their rooms in the dorms. At first they lay each on their side, moving around and laughing because “look at all the space we have!” but once they were beginning to fall asleep, they were already snuggled up together in the middle, their bodies pressed close enough there wasn’t an inch between them. It was what they were used to, but still, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

The next morning, and it’s been a while since it happened, Liam woke up to the soft kicks of Niall’s legs to his own. They were lying across the bed in diagonal, how did they even manage to move around like that _together_ , it was a mystery.

“Morning,” Liam spoke lazily as he placed a kiss on the blonde mop of hair in front of him. He chuckled when Niall said something, but it was impossible for him to understand, Niall’s accent was thick in the morning, add up the sleepy voice and the fact that he was lying on his stomach with his face buried in the mattress and you had the worst combo, “what?”

“I’m hungry,” Niall repeated himself and turned to his side so he was now facing Liam, “what time is it?” he rubbed his eye with his hand.

“Doesn’t matter, we have all day,” Liam smiled as he tightened his grip around the blonde’s body.

“No, I mean-“ Niall interrupted himself with a yawn, “we went to bed pretty early and I don’t usually get hungry early in the morning,” Niall explained, closing his eyes again and cuddling into Liam closer.

“Uhm, it’s-“ Liam turned his head around to grab his phone from the bedside table, “eleven?!” he exclaimed surprised, how much sleep did they get?!

“What?” Niall asked as he opened his eyes suddenly and changed his position in a way he was now resting his body weigh on his elbow, “wait- how did we get in this position?” he looked at their bodies lying in a diagonal position on the bed with a frown.

“No idea,” Liam laughed slightly, “we just have so much space now, we better not get used to it,” he sighed.

“Yeah,” he sighed and let his body fall from its position so he was lying again, “I don’t want to get up though.”

“We can stay here until it’s lunch time, what do you say?”

“But lunch time is so far away and I’m hungry!” Niall whined and Liam laughed and leaned in closer to kiss him. Niall relaxed and moved his hand so it was now on Liam’s neck as they kissed. It went for a couple of minutes until they pulled apart to catch their breaths.

“We can stay until lunch if we k- keep that up,” Niall went suddenly into his shy mode again, his cheeks turning a bright pink as he moved his eyes away from Liam’s face.

Liam didn’t say anything, just smiled smugly before closing the gap between their lips again, his hand moving from Niall’s back slowly, down to his waist and then his thigh, squeezing it a bit and moving it so it was hooked around his leg, pressing their bodies closer. Liam felt Niall tense up immediately and moved his hand away quickly, and lifting it in an attempt to show Niall that he didn’t have any further intentions. Which was true, for the moment, at least.

“Sorry,” Liam mumbled against his lips, placing his hand back on Niall’s back.

“It’s okay just- I wasn’t expecting it,” Niall whispered embarrassed and hid his face on the older boy’s neck.

They stayed in that position for what felt like forever, Liam’s hand playing with Niall’s hair a bit.

“Can we go have lunch now?” the blonde asked at some point, his voice muffled against Liam’s neck.

“Sure we can,” Liam said, squeezing Niall for a second before letting go, throwing the blanket away from their bodies as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed before stretching. He slowly got up, Niall doing the same but on the other side of the bed and taking his glasses to put them on as he started to walk towards the door.

“Are you not going to put clothes on?” Niall asked with a chuckle.

“No,” Liam shrugged, “it’s just us, plus, it’s not something you haven’t seen before so” and then he winked at him, “come on, let’s have some food,” he extended his arm for Niall to take his hand.

“But- clothes-“

“Forget about clothes, come on, it’s just us.”

Niall blinked and looked at him for a second before stepping forward to take his hand, letting Liam drag him out of the room and to the kitchen.

They made some food in silence, Liam was just humming around as he set the table down for them to sit and eat.

“So I think we should spend the day in the pool, the day is beautiful outside,” Liam commented as he looked out the window then back at Niall who nodded at him, “you brought sun block, right? Don’t want your skin to hurt after being under the sunlight or for you to get sunstroke.”

“I did bring it, yes,” Niall rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and Liam chuckled.

They finished eating in silence and then Liam stood up to carry their dishes to the sink while still being only wearing boxers. Niall couldn’t stop staring, it was right that there wasn’t anything he hasn’t seen before but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate Liam’s body, his perfect tan skin, how the muscles of his back clenched when he moved, how broad his shoulders are compared to his waist, his biceps, his _fucking biceps_ , and really, Liam had an amazing body, and there he was, all pale skin and skinny, it was embarrassing.

“What are you thinking about?” Liam approached him and touched his shoulder.

“Oh- nothing,” he offered him a small smile as he shook his head and blushed a little bit.

“Right, uhm…” Liam started and scratched the back of his neck with a hand as he used the other one to pull Niall’s arm as a silent question for him to stand up.

“What’s wrong?” the blonde asked, suddenly worried about Liam’s behavior as he stood up facing him.

“Nothing! Nothing, just-“ Liam shook his head quickly and took Niall’s hand in his, “go on a date with me tonight.”

Niall blinked and stared at him for a couple seconds before he spoke, “is that a question?”

“Uhm… yes?”

“And do I have a choice?” Niall whispered, leaning the tiniest bit closer.

“Uh- yes, that’s why I asked-“

“You don’t have to ask, of course I want to,” Niall smiled honestly, his blue eyes shining behind his glasses and Liam has never seen such a beautiful person in his whole life.

“Alright then,” Liam leaned in to peck his lips, “dress up tonight then, we’re going on a proper date,” he smiled, crinkly eyes and everything lighting up his face.

 

They waited a bit after lunch to get into the pool, and it’s been so long since any of them had that much fun. It wasn’t summer, not yet, but it wasn’t cold or windy so they decided they could just enjoy the day outside, and what a great choice they made. At first they just sunbathed for a bit, Liam helped Niall get sun block in all the places he couldn’t get, taking extra time to spread it all over his back and Niall then did the same with him.

Liam was the first to get into the pool, jumping in and splashing water all around the pool and making Niall jump up and whimper when the cold water touched his warm skin. “Come on, jump in!” Liam yelled and first Niall didn’t want to do it because really, the water was too cold, so first he just sat on the edge of the pool with the water reaching his knees only but then Liam came over and he just fucking _hugged_ him while being all wet, and Niall tried, he tried to get away but he couldn’t and he ended up all wet. “You’ve got no excuse not to get in now, come on.”

“But my glasses-“

“Take them off and leave them there, come on, Niallllllllll,” Liam begged and the blonde sighed, taking his glasses of slowly getting into the pool.

“See, it wasn’t that bad!” Liam exclaimed once the blonde was in the pool the water over his waist.

“It’s still cold,” he mumbled as a shiver ran through his spine and Liam moved closer and hugged him, “you’re all wet and cold!” he whined and tried to get away from Liam’s embrace.

“You need to move to acclimatize, of course you’re gonna be cold if you just stand there!” Liam laughed and submerged his whole body under water. Niall let out a sigh and then counted to three mentally before taking a deep breath and diving into the water.

The rest of the afternoon were all smiles and laughs, they splashed water all over each other and swam around though the pool was not that big. They went out to have a snack at some point during the afternoon because who would’ve said the pool made you that hungry? They even got smoothies because “well we’ve got fruits and a blender, so why not?” Liam shrugged and Niall just nodded. They did make a mess none of them was looking forward to clean but at least the smoothies tasted really good. They sat to the side of the pool to drink them in silence.

After that, they didn’t get into the pool again so they just stayed out, put some music in one of their phones and sang alone and talk about a bit of everything and how much they didn’t want to go back to classes.

By the time the sun was going down, they decided they’ll stay out to watch the sunset before going inside and start getting ready for their date. The temperature had started to go down a bit and it was a bit windy, not too much but enough to cause goosebumps to appear on Niall’s arms.

The blonde was sitting on the edge of the pool, his legs moving back and forward in the water and Liam was right next to him; they were talking quietly and laughing a bit when Liam bumped his shoulder with his and noticed the goosebumps on his arm, “you cold?”

“A bit, it’s fine though,” Niall shrugged and Liam wrapped his arm around him and moved it up and down his arm as a way to warm him up. He kept it up for a minute though, before standing up.

“Where are you- oh,” Niall intended to ask if he was going somewhere, but realized he wasn’t when Liam sat right behind him, legs spread enough for Niall to be sitting in between them as he wrapped his arms around his body. Niall sighed and let his body weight rest against Liam’s back, it was such a familiar position that made him feel safe and warm all over.

They stayed silent and Liam started to rock them from side to side slightly at some point, humming some song as they watched the sun going down.

“Can I ask you something?” the blonde mumbled so soft that Liam had barely been able to hear it.

“Of course, anything you want, babe,” Liam whispered and let his chin rest on Niall’s shoulder.

“Uhm- it’s stupid but… I never asked and I was just wondering…” he started while he played with his fingers, “why did you… why did you stay?”

Liam frowned despite the fact that Niall couldn’t see him, he tightened his arms around him, “what do you mean?”

“I mean-“ Niall let out a breath, “why did you ever look my way? Why did you decide to give this a chance?” he asked softly and looking down, moving his hands to put them over Liam ones which were resting over his lower stomach, “I mean, if you only ever been with girls… then what’s about me, you know?”

Liam let out a breath and Niall felt it hit the skin of his shoulder before pressing his lips to the joint of his neck and shoulders, but he stayed quiet, Niall thought Liam was thinking of an answer, of a way to put his thoughts into words but when he didn’t speak for a while, he thought he wasn’t going to get an answer and he felt a bit stupid to even ask this at all. But Liam’s voice brought him out of his thoughts when he started talking,

“I’m- not really sure, if I’m honest, and I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit frightening and awkward at first,” it was kind of a mumble, but his chin was still resting on Niall’s shoulder so he was able to hear him despite the low tone of his voice, “remember that first time we saw each other- no, the first time I saw _you_ when Harry, Louis and I went to ask about the notes? When I still didn’t know it was you?” Liam asked and he nodded slowly, blushing about the memory of how awkward that situation had been, “you looked just so… I don’t know, like so shocked and all flushed and nervous and I remember thinking ‘how come I never seen this guy before?’ and it was so… weird, because I’d never fancied a bloke before and my head was a mess, you know?” Liam kept on explaining and Niall just nodded along, he didn’t expect any different explanation so far, “and then I kept watching you all the time and you were always alone but you were- _you are_ \- so cute and then I find out you were the ones sending me the notes and I realized that you had put so much effort into it that I don’t know… it just had to be, you know? I felt it was the right thing to do, so I decided to give it a shot, I mean, what was the worst that could happen? That you realize that I’m completely dumb and not brilliant compared to you? I was willing to take that risk” that part was meant to be a joke and Niall knew because of the chuckle that escaped Liam’s lips.

“You’re not that” the blonde reassured him, squeezing the older boy’s hands in his.

“Oh come on,” Niall was sure Liam rolled his eyes at him, “it’s fine though, I’ve got you to be the brainy one in the relationship, I can be the muscle.”

“Excuse me, I’ve got muscles too,” Niall let go of the other boy’s hand and crossed his arm against his chest, faking a pout.

“Of course you do,” Liam laughed shortly and rolled his eyes again, “but you know what I mean. Look, as long as I get to hold you and carry you around, I’m happy,” Niall felt Liam’s shoulder scrunch up in a shrug, “anyways, you proved me that this was worth it in a heartbeat so that kind of put my head at ease pretty fast back then when we started dating,” Liam’s voice had gone soft again and a bit more serious, “you’re so smart and caring and you always want the best and you put so much effort into everything like you really get into whatever you’re doing and you’re also beautiful and soft and cuddly and you worked so hard to make this work, I’m sorry about everything I’ve put you through before,” he sounded a bit guilty, as if he was apologizing, “I’m really proud and happy that we’re here…” he trailed off,  “and maybe it’s just you, you know? Maybe I don’t even like guys in general, maybe it’s just you.”

“Are you saying I’m like a girl?” Niall suddenly turned his head to look at his boyfriend.

“Ugh, why can’t I ever put my thoughts into the right words?” Liam mumbled under his breath to himself.

“’Cause I’m the brainy and you’re the muscle,” Niall chuckled and pressed his lips to Liam’s cheek. It was silent after that, what else was there to say anyways?

“We missed the sunset,” Liam commented when he realized that it was already dark and Niall made an ‘oh’ sound, realized that they did, in fact missed it, they had been too caught up in their conversation. “Shit,” Liam suddenly mumbled and moved to stand up, “we need to start getting ready.”

Niall stood up quickly and followed Liam into the house, suddenly bumping into him when he stopped walking abruptly, “ugh,” Liam sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Niall asked worried and moved to stand next to him.

“I need to clean up this mess,” Liam pointed to all the mess they caused while preparing the smoothies earlier, “I can’t leave it there until tomorrow,” he scrunched up his nose.

“I can help and-“

“No, no,” Liam shook his head, “you go have a shower while I clean this and I’ll shower later.”

“But-“

“No buts, come on.”

Niall sighed and shook his head at Liam’s stubbornness but still turned around and made his way out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom and into the bathroom that was attached to it. He turned on the water and waited for a minute until it was warm enough to get in while he took out a tower out of a small cupboard. He spent most of the time showering trying not to freak out about this, it wasn’t the first time they were going to go out on a date, right? So why was he so nervous about this?

He had already used the shampoo and was getting all the conditioner out of his hair when there was a knock on the door and then he heard it open, “Ni?” Liam’s voice came from out of the shower.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll take my clothes and use the other bathroom then change in my old bedroom so you can use this one, okay?”

“You don’t have to, you can change clothes here” because really, why would he use another bedroom?

“It’s alright, I’ll see you later when you’re ready,” he could hear the smirk in Liam’s voice and before he could reply something, he heard the door close.

Okay, Liam just let him have the room all to himself, no big deal, nothing to freak out about. But what does that mean?! It meant that he wanted to Niall to look his best, that was all, why would there be another reason?

He turned off the water and got out of the shower, taking the towel to dry his body and his hair slowly, then wrapped it around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He walked to his suitcase and looked for a pair of boxers briefs before getting rid of the towel and sliding his legs into it. Now, it was time for clothes. He had neatly packed the clothes Zayn helped him buy some weeks ago, careful that they won’t stain or get all wrinkly.

He put on the black pants first, zipping it up and doing the button, then the shirt, it was still weird for him, that color was so something he’ll never wear but he trusted his friend (and the girl who worked at the store, apparently) enough to know it’ll look good. He slipped in his pair of black shoes, well, they weren’t actual, proper shoes, but really similar, but too formal wasn’t his style at all he didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard.

He walked to his bag to take out that gel Zayn had told him to use to do his hair, even though he knew it was going to be pretty impossible, he has never been able to do his hair on his own but his friend gave him a few tips here and there so he hoped it’ll turn out fine. That’s when it hit him, not that he didn’t know or that it wasn’t floating around in his head already, but when he opened the bag and saw the small pack of lube there, he unconsciously blushed at the thought, but he knew that this was what they both had been waiting for, what they both had been anxious about. Niall was sure he wanted this with Liam, he had zero doubts, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be nervous, because hell, he was. He quickly took the lube and the condoms, as if someone was watching him, and put them into the nightstand drawer. He let out a breath to compose himself, grabbed the gel and was walked into the bathroom again.

He brushed his teeth, careful not let any foam from the tooth paste fall from his mouth and stain his clothes, and then it was time to deal with his hair, he hated this bit. He dried it first and then brushed, trying to decide if it’ll be better to leave it flat or if a quiff would be better for the occasion. He tried to go for the quiff, using the brush and the hair drier to style it up so he could use the gel but it didn’t turn out that fine, he couldn’t get it to stay up enough time to pick the gel and it just kept going down every time he tried and it was getting frustrating, he even lost the track of the time he spent in there until there was a knock on the door that had him jumping, “you okay in there, Ni?”

“Yeah- I’ll be out in a minute!” he yelled as he glared at his reflection in the mirror.

“Alright, hurry up, we’ve got reservations,” Liam told him from the other side of the door and then he heard him walk away. Reservations? Wow.

Niall sighed as he took a bit of the gel in his fingers and used it on his hair, not even trying to use the other two objects anymore, just applied the sticky thing and tried to style it up without messing up the whole thing. It didn’t turn out that bad in the end, it ended up being kind of flat, kind of a quiff, he wasn’t sure how to call it but it didn’t look bad so satisfied with the result, he opened the door and went into the bedroom again, took his cardigan and slid his arms in it and he was ready to go. He threw a last glance at his outfit in a mirror that was hanging from one of the walls, smoothing his shirt, then fixed his glasses on his nose and walked out of the room until he reached the living room.

“Wow,” Liam blinked when he saw him and even looked like he had stopped breathing for a second, “you look great, babe,” he complimented him, walking forward, trying not to be too obvious as how he was looking at him from head to toe but failed because Niall noticed, he didn’t say anything though.

“Thanks,” Niall mumbled with blushed cheeks and a small smile, “you look really good too,” he threw in because it was true, Liam always looked good but a bit formal clothes did wonders. He was wearing a buttoned up navy blue shirt and black pants with black shoes too, it was really simple but it suited him really well, after all, Liam said fancy clothes but nothing _too_ fancy.

“Thanks, babe, and look, we match even without planning it,” Liam chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Niall’s waist and leaning close enough so his mouth was next to his ear,  “maybe we should just skip dinner,” he said in a low voice that sent a shiver down Niall’s spine.

“U- Uhm,” Niall blinked, not sure how to answer to that.

“Relax,” Liam said less serious now and with a little laugh, “I’m kidding,” he kissed the corner of his mouth and Niall felt his body relax, “should we go then?” he asked and Niall nodded.

They walked out of the house hand in hand where a cab was already waiting for them, when did it even arrive?

They stayed silent for most of the car ride and still held hands. It was a short ride though, five minutes or ten minutes top when they reached their destination, then Liam paid the driver and they were out of the cab and walking towards the door of a small but pretty restaurant.

A nice girl asked them if they had a reservation already, which had Liam nodding and telling her his name before she checked on a list and nodded, guiding them towards some tables with people sitting and chatting quietly until they reached a table a bit more isolated from the rest.

“I wanted to have a bit of space,” Liam explained when they were both sat down at their table.

“It’s fine,” Niall nodded and looked around, “have you been here before?”

“No,” Liam shook his head slightly, “I really wanted us to have a date though so I might have looked up places on the internet…” he added looking away from the blonde and Liam could see the faintest blush on his cheek, Liam was just so sweet.

“That’s very nice of you, Li, thank you,” Niall smiled sweetly and extended his hand over the table for Liam to take it.

A minute later, another girl approached them with menus, leaving them on the table for them and told them she’ll be back in a minute to take their orders before she smiled and turned around to leave.

“Are we drinking wine like in movies?” Niall asked as he inspected the menu.

“If you want to, yeah, we can,” Liam moved his eyes up from his menu to look at Niall and threw him a smile.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had proper wine, can we?”

“Of course,” Liam nodded.

A moment after, the girl was back to take their orders, Liam asked them for some wine he had seen on the menu and ordered his food, he decided that a small portion of risotto will do, he haven’t had that in a million years and once he saw it on the menu he just _had_ to have it, it wasn’t messy to eat or spicy or anything, nothing that could ruin the look of the date, not that Niall would say anything about it, he’s seen him eat the most greasy, horrible food before, but still. Niall ordered a salad with chicken, good, they were keeping their adult facades so far.

The wine arrived first and their waitress poured some of the liquid into their glasses and left again. Niall hummed when he tried the wine first, “this is good,” he nodded, “nothing like the cheap wine I tried once,” he chuckled and Liam smiled at him.

Their food was on the table a couple of minutes later and they both tried their best to look like normal, decent people when they started eating, not throwing themselves at the food like they usually did when they were in the dorms or after classes when they were starving after those long hours of boring lectures.

Liam held a bit of his food in a fork and fed it to Niall so he could try it, and it was nice but “I kinda have the taste of this chicken in my mouth so I can’t really taste it, sorry Li,” he chuckled and Liam rolled his eyes. Niall did the same though, he held his fork with chicken close to Liam’s mouth to try it, “it’s great,” he commented on it and Niall agreed.

They ate slowly and chatted during the meal, about the place, how the dim lights gave it more of a private look, and how the chairs and the tablecloths matched and made it look fine. The place wasn’t that big but it was comfortable and the environment was peaceful, you could hear the murmurs of the people talking and the clank of the cutlery but there were no yells or noise around.

They took their time to finish their food and once they were done, their waitress was back at their table to ask if they were going to have some dessert, so when they said they would, she took their plates away and a minute later she was back with the menus again.

They decided ice cream would be the best, you can never go wrong with ice cream. Of course it was served in scoops in a nice place with sauce as a decoration on a bit of caramel too. They shared it though, they asked just one for the two of them, they didn’t want to get their stomachs too full. 

The ice cream was heavenly and so was the chocolate sauce that was on top of it. They kept chatting and laughing all along, Liam even got a bit of ice cream on the corner of Niall’s mouth that he then managed to clean with a kiss. Niall had blushed then, a bit worried about what the people around them might think, but no one had spared them a look then so that calmed him down a bit.

Once they were done, Liam asked their waitress for their bill and Niall took out his wallet with the intention of paying at least his food but Liam slapped his hand away, “I’m paying,” he gestured for him that it was nothing.

“But-“

“You can pay for the cab later if you want.”

Niall pouted and crossed his arms over his chest making Liam laugh just as the waitress was back and he handed over the money.

They headed out of the restaurant, and walked towards the corner, waiting for a taxi to come into view.  They stopped one and got inside, giving the driver the address of the house. Liam took Niall’s hand in his and squeezed it as he smiled at him and Niall’s stomach suddenly filled with butterflies; their moment was finally approaching and he could feel his heart starting to race and his stomach doing flips.

They were out of the taxi moments later and Liam was already unlocking the door for them to walk inside. Niall felt his breath itch for a moment but nothing really happened, Liam just kept holding his hand once he closed the door and looked at him in the eyes and Niall smiled at him. None of them said nothing then, they just silently made their way to the bedroom hand in hand. God, Niall needed a minute, “I’m- “ he awkwardly cleared his throat, “I gotta use the bathroom a minute, I’ll be right back,” he threw in trying not to sound weird and squeezed Liam’s hand before letting go and disappeared into the bathroom.

Liam sighed then, this was a lot more awkward than he had planned, what is he supposed to be doing right now while he waits for Niall?

He turned on the lights on the nightstands and turned the rest of the lights off, it wasn’t that romantic or whatever, but it was better than the normal light of the room. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited, getting lost in his thoughts. He was beginning to worry about this whole ordeal, what if it didn’t happen, or worse, what if it did happen but he made it a horrible experience for Niall or-

“Hi,” he felt Niall’s arms wrap around his shoulders from behind, making him jump a little.

“Shit- I didn’t notice you were back,” he put his hand over his chest.

“Well, you were facing away from me, it’s fine,” Niall shrugged. He was kneeling on the mattress right behind Liam.

“I’m sorry,” Liam muttered and took of Niall’s hands that was hanging around his neck and kissed it.

“About?” the blonde sounded confused, there was nothing Liam should be sorry for, the night had been wonderful so far.

Liam sighed then, “I wanted to make this not awkward but- but I don’t know how,” he hung his head.

Niall smiled to himself then, realizing that he wasn’t the only one nervous about this, that Liam had wanted this as bad as he did but none of them wasn’t sure how to act. He moved then, getting off of the bed and sat on Liam’s lap, “it’s not awkward,” he whispered as he moved his hands to rest on Liam’s chest.

“It is, I-“ Liam wrapped his arms around Niall’s waist and lifted his face to look up at Niall, “I wanted this to be good because it’s our first time but- I don’t know, I guess I just ruined it with all the talking, did I?” he tried to cover the nerves in his voice with a chuckle.

“I’m good with whatever, you know that, I mean-“ Niall looked down and slowly started moving his hands to undo the first button on Liam’s shirt, “all first are supposed to be at least a bit awkward, aren’t they?” he smiled up at him as honest as he could, where was all this sudden confidence even coming from?

“You think that?” Liam tightened his grip on him.

“Yeah…” he undid a second button, “I really want this with you, Li, I don’t care if it’s awkward, I mean, it’s not like I’ve got anything to compare it to…” he blushed and looked down, making Liam smile at him.

“I really want this with you too,” Liam leaned in closer and Niall could feel his breath on his face already.

The blonde looked at him in the eyes too and they stared at each other for a moment, as if they were looking for some kind of proof of fear or something in their eyes, but they found none as they leaned that little bit closer to join their lips together.

It was a long kiss, a really long one and they were both sure that they were using the time to think about the next move. Surprisingly, Niall decided to take the initiative, it was a small step, but something nonetheless, when he decided to move his hands from where they were resting in Liam’s chest, just that little bit lower to resume his task of undoing the buttons. It was a bit complicated because he couldn’t really see what he was doing but he trusted his instinct. He rested his hands in his bare chest once he was done with enough buttons to do so and Liam suddenly groaned, his hands leaving his hips to move up so he could help Niall get out of the cardigan he was wearing. They never broke the kiss so far, and once that piece of clothing was gone, Liam moved his hands to Niall’s ass, supporting him as he stood up and turned on his heels, lying Niall on the bed and him kneeling in between his legs.

They broke the kiss and looked at each other again, and Liam smiled down at the blonde, “you look so beautiful in these clothes,” he leaned to kiss him gently again, “I love this color on you,” he added when he pulled away, moving to kiss his cheek and down his jaw as his hands moved to the hem of his shirt, “I also love what you did with your hair,” and as he was about to pull from the shirt to take it out from Niall’s body, he heard him chuckle.

“You do?” Niall suddenly asked and Liam lifted his face to look at him.

“Yeah, why?” he frowned because _really?_ They were going to have this conversation now?

“I tried to style it up into a quiff for a million years but couldn’t and this was the result,” he chuckled.

“Everything looks good on you anyways, so-”

“Shit-“ Niall interrupted suddenly, “I completely ruined the moment, didn’t I?” he blushed furiously and looked away from Liam’s face, moving his hands to face but the older boy caught them just in time and kissed his knuckles.

“No, you didn’t,” he pecked his lips quickly as he let Niall’s hands fall to his sides, “come on, let’s get you out of this, hm?” and then Liam pulled from the hem of his shirt and it was gone, thrown away to some place on the room and probably lying on the floor.

Liam kissed him again, a bit harder this time, something that had Niall letting out a small moan against his lips. Liam was supporting his body with his arms on each side of the blonde’s body, so Niall used the opportunity to finish what he had been doing previously and finished unbuttoning the last buttons of his shirt. He let his hands wander over Liam’s skin for a moment, up and down his sides and to his abs, then higher until he reached his shoulders, pushing the shirt off of them. Liam got it, then pulled away from Niall’s lips to shake his shirt off his body and let it fall to the floor, it was either that of face fall to the bed if he tried to get it off without breaking the kiss.

Niall was managing okay so far, Liam was now sucking on his neck, gently nipping the skin as he ran his hands up and down his bare back. It wasn’t until Liam’s mouth moved to the base of his neck and kissed right under his Adam’s apple that he felt a shiver ran down his spine and his hips thrust upwards slightly, he could feel Liam’s smirk against his skin as he spoke, “that alright?”

“Y- yeah,” he stuttered, his mind starting to turn off, just letting the pleasure take over. And they weren’t even fully naked yet.

Liam made his way down as he kissed the skin of the blonde’s chest, butterfly kisses all over his body until he reached his pants and then looked up, as if he was asking for Niall’s permission. This wasn’t even the first time they were going to see each other naked, but he thought that considering where this was going, he should make sure. Niall wasn’t even looking at him though, he had his eyes closed and his face was relaxed, so he took that as a sign to keep going. He undid the button first and then the zip slowly, throwing glances to Niall’s face constantly to see if everything was still okay. It was true that Niall had said that he wanted this, but he just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t do anything that would make him uncomfortable.

He was just about to slid the pants down when Niall’s legs moved suddenly and he heard the thump of his shoes falling to the floor.

“Sorry,” Niall whispered with his eyes still closed and a sheepish smile and Liam smiled up at him even though he wasn’t watching him. He moved up and kissed him again, taking Niall by surprise.

“Up,” Liam patted the side of his hips for him to lift them up in order to take his pants off. He slid them down until his knees and then Niall ended up kicking his legs to get rid of them, making Liam chuckle.

“I’m sorry-“ Niall said again, “I don’t know how to do this,” he kept refusing to look at the older boy.

“Hey,” Liam lay with his whole body on top of him, “look at me,” he ran his hand Niall’s jaw and he opened his eyes slowly to look at him, “you’re doing great, so stop apologizing,” he said softly and kissed the corner of his mouth. Niall really was beautiful like this, all blushed pink and his eyes going darker by the second, he could also feel his erection against his thigh, they needed to start moving faster or he was going to combust.

Liam lifted his body and stood up from the bed, unbuttoning his own pants when Niall abruptly sat up, “let me,” he looked up at him and moved closer, his slightly shaking hands unzipping his pants and pulling them down for him to step out of them.

Niall was sitting on the edge of the bed now, right in front of Liam, so he used the opportunity to place a kiss right under Liam’s navel, making him sigh and throw his head back as his hands flew to Niall’s hair, running through it and pulling it a bit. Niall smiled against his skin then, placing another soft kiss, and another and another, going lower and kissing down his happy trail. He finally hooked one of his fingers on the elastic of his boxers, looking up just as Liam looked down and their eyes met, “can I?” he asked, trying not to sound too nervous and Liam didn’t say anything, just nodded.

Niall pulled down his boxers slowly, letting his erection sprung free and immediately took it in his hand earning a groan from Liam. He moved it up and down at a slow pace for a moment, thinking about what his next move should be. He leaned forward then and slowly wrapped his lips around the tip of Liam’s cock.

Liam’s eyes flew open at the new feeling and looked down, saving the image in his mind for later. Niall looked up for a second though, big, innocent blue eyes stared at him for a second before he looked down immediately when he noticed Liam was looking at him, as if he was embarrassed, after all, the only time he had tried to do this, had been a big failure.

Liam run a hand through the blonde hair as a way of soothing him just as Niall bobbed his head slowly, as if he was testing himself, trying to find out how far he could go. Liam could still realize how nervous he was and he didn’t have to do this, he didn’t want him to feel like he needed to do this, “Ni, you don’t- _fuck_ “  he intended on speaking but Niall hollowed his cheeks and God, how long has it been since he last had sex?

Niall kept going for a bit, the little sounds Liam was making giving him the small push he needed to do it until Liam pulled his hair a little too rough, “stop- don’t want to cum yet,” he said with a sheepish tone in his voice and Niall just nodded and let go. What was he supposed to do? “your turn now, yeah?” Liam smirked as he moved to kneel on the bed just as Niall lay back down, “I’m gonna take this off,” Liam whispered next to his ear and started pulling his boxers down when he nodded his head slightly in approval. “We should- wait,” Liam suddenly disappeared from Niall’s side and moved around in the bed, fluffing the pillows with his hands, “come here,” he signaled with his head to Niall to lay down in the center of the bed with his head on the pillow.

He intended to lay on top for Niall, but didn’t really succeed and instead his whole body crushed on top of the blonde’s one with an ‘oompf’, “sorry,” he chuckled and Niall rolled his eyes fondly. So far everything had been kind of weird just as they had predicted before, but none of them would have changed it for the world, Niall was sure he would never find someone to feel as comfortable around as he was when he was with Liam, especially in a situation like this, he had been so nervous before and he thought that he was going to screw up but instead, he was feeling pretty good so far.

Liam kissed his lips gently as he lifted his body just a tiny bit, supporting it on his arms. He bit Niall’s bottom lip just like he always did when he asked for permission to deepen the kiss, something Niall had never had any problems with doing. Liam knew they just needed to let go, relax a bit if they wanted this to be a pleasurable experience for both, so he made the kiss last, gentle for moments, harder after a while, he kissed Niall until he needed to pull out for breath and then he dived for another kiss again. And it came naturally then, when Niall’s hands wrapped around his neck and then wandered down his body, caressing his sides with his fingertips and then his back, running his hands up and down, exploring his body. He started rocking his hips, slowly but at a steady pace, earning a small growl from Niall’s throat. This was a whole new experience from both, giving that they haven’t done anything besides handjobs here and there sometimes.

It was Liam who took the initiative this time, when Niall bended his knee and wrapped his leg around Liam’s waist to get more friction, that he realized how bad he wanted this and _now_. He pulled away from the blonde’s lips with a last peck (and a complaining sound from him too) and he started his way down, mouthing at Niall’s jaw, and kissing down his neck, his chest, he even stopped to place a gentle kiss on the left side of his chest, right where his heart is placed, making Niall blush madly at the gesture but decided not to say anything.

Liam took his time to explore Niall’s body, to see what made his blush, shiver, gasp, moan or what tickled him. He placed long lingering kisses on his skin, then wet ones and quick ones, alternating them to watch his reaction. Niall stopped him though, when he got to his hipbones, he placed a hand on his arm and mumbled something that sounded like a stuttered “w- wait,” so he immediately made his way back up to be face to face to Niall, looking at him in the eyes.

The blonde turned to his side and stretched his arm to open the drawer and took out the items he had put in there before their date, quickly closing the drawer again and laying on the bed again, pushing the items into Liam’s chest with a pink blush on his cheeks. He bit his bottom lip, he couldn’t even look at him in the face.

“What- oh“ Liam looked at him confused as he took the items that Niall was pressing against his chest with his hand and stared at them, “wait, this aren’t the ones I bought, did you-“ and Niall cut him nodding quickly, still not looking at him. He smiled down at him though and kissed his cheek, “I’d kill to see you buying these,” he chuckled and Niall’s hands flew up to cover his red face. “Hey, I’m kidding you know that,” Liam placed the small pack of lube and the condom next to them on the bed and used one of his hands to move Niall’s hands from his face and then leaned in closer to his ear, “should we get to it then, babe?” he asked with a smirk as his hand moved down and took Niall’s erection in his hand, loosely moving it up and down.

“Please,” Niall whined, eyes shutting closed.

“Alright, same as always, you know that right? If you want me to stop, you tell me, okay? I’m serious,” Liam talked trying to keep a steady but soft voice.

“I know,” Niall looked at him with a small smile, “you’re always taking c- care of me. Thank you.”

“Of course, babe, I love you.” Liam smiled back and kissed him before making his way down again.

Niall’s breath hitched for a second when Liam positioned himself in between his legs, bending them at the knees. He placed small kisses on his knee and thigh, which was a great a distraction from what his other hand was doing, slowly moving down his other thigh and towards his hole. When had Liam put the lube on his fingers, he had no idea, he had been too worried about trying _not_ to worry, when he felt a cold finger pressing against his entrance. He tensed immediately when the finger was up to the first knuckle but Liam quickly resolved that, moving his other hand to his cock, and lazily started to jerk him off.

“Relax, yeah? It’ll get better if you relax,” Liam mumbled and kissed his inner thigh.

Niall did his best, took a deep breath and concentrated on the hand that was jerking him rather than the awkward feeling of Liam’s finger starting to stretch him. He did a great job at it apparently, cause next thing he knew, Liam was speaking softly and placing another kiss to his thigh, “see? It wasn’t that bad, wasn’t it?” and in reality, no, it actually wasn’t, it didn’t hurt, not yet at least, it was just a bit uncomfortable. Maybe he could do this.

Liam slid his finger in and out for a couple of minutes, watching Niall’s face carefully and listening to his breathing, taking them both as their references to know if he was doing something wrong, that and the small gasps or suppressed moans he’d let out from time to time, still pretty sure they were caused by the hand he had wrapped around his cock; but still, so far Niall hadn’t shown any signs of pain or discomfort. Well, that until he started pushing a second finger in, then the situation changed. Niall hissed at the stretch, it was like an uncomfortable burn that spread to the back of his spine, and his faced turned into one of pain.

“Do you want me to stop?” Liam asked him as calm as he could.

“N- no, just- slow, please?”

“Of course, babe, always.”

It took Liam some time to get his two fingers to fit in, Niall was really tight and the thought, the _feeling_ of it had went straight to his growing; but it was about Niall now, taking care of him so he wouldn’t hurt him, his needs could wait a bit more.

A minute or two had passed without making any attempt to move his fingers until Niall’s face was back to his normal expression, no more pain in his features, so he took that as a sign to start moving. Now came the moment that was making him feel a bit nervous. He moved his fingers slowly at first, in and out, scissoring them just the tiniest bit until he felt Niall relax around them, giving him the perfect moment to curl them up a bit, searching for that spot that he knew it’ll make Niall feel good. It took him a moment to find it, but hell, it was worth it,

“Oh God-“ Niall gasped and his back arched off the bed.

“There?” Liam asked with a triumphant smile on his face and Niall nodded furiously.

It was better from then on, Liam had actually let go of Niall’s length in order to take care of his for a while this time, as he kept the pace with his fingers, alternating before brushing the blonde’s prostate and not doing it.

The third finger has been a bit more problematic because damn, that did hurt like a bitch, Liam even felt guilty when he heard Niall give a small cry that had him stopping without even thinking, the last thing he wanted was to hurt him now. He waited until Niall was relaxed again to continue pushing, even so slowly and going slowly to press that spot, he figured it’ll come in handy given that Niall’s face was still looking a bit in pain.

But Niall adjusted, with some minutes, he managed to relax enough for Liam to slid his fingers comfortably, the problem was, he was just _so_ close already, and Liam won’t stop hitting that spot that had his stomach feeling funny, knowing that he’ll be coming any time now.

“S- stop, please,” Niall begged even though his voice sounded like the complete opposite of his plea.

“What’s wrong, did I hurt you?” the older boy questioned, suddenly feeling alarmed.

“N- no,” Niall moaned as his prostate was brushed again. “Fuck me,” he gasped almost inaudible but felt so embarrassed that he covered his face with his hands, “I’m sorry, oh God-“ he cried into his hands and he felt Liam removing his fingers and he whined at the feeling, he felt so helpless, desperate even.

“Don’t,” Liam moved his hands away from his face, “you sure about this? You can always-“

“I’m sure,” Niall whispered and nodded, looking back at Liam.

“Okay,” Liam pecked his lips, “stop me if it gets too much” there he was again, always being that careful, treating him like he was fragile and he could break.

He looked up at Liam as he rolled the condom on and applied the lube, seeing him shiver for a second because of the cold. He leaned forward again then, looking at Niall in the eyes, as if searching for something but then he slammed his lips against his with such force it could have him falling backwards if he wasn’t laying already. He felt the tip pressing against his entrance and he did his best to relax, just as he had done before, and he felt it slid in without problems, but Liam didn’t stop immediately then, he kept going, slowly until Niall put a hand on his chest, and the older boy understood him perfectly, stopping his movement right then.

“You alright?” he asked him breathless from all the kissing. Couldn’t deny it had been a good distraction though.

“Yeah, just- wait a minute.” Niall closed his eyes and concentrated on Liam, on how nice the weight of his body felt on top of him, on how gentle yet firm he has been so far, on how good it had felt before so this could only get better, right? “Okay,” he nodded, and moved his hand from Liam’s chest to his own erection, wrapping his fist loosely around it, and it helped not to pay attention that much to the burn.

Liam stopped when he was buried to the hilt, and even though it took him a bit, with Niall having stopped him and all, he couldn’t think of any other thing but how tight it was, he had to restrain himself from just starting thrusting right there.

“I’ll make it good, babe, I promise,” he whispered as he kissed all over his face, his cheeks, his nose, his temple.

“You already did,” Niall whispered, voice strained.

“Then I’ll make it even better,” he smiled and kissed his lips. “Can I take these off?” he asked, taking Niall’s glasses off his face when he nodded weakly. He placed a kiss on the bridge of his nose and felt Niall sigh and his hands grabbed his biceps.

“Okay, you can, uhm-“ Niall was blushing, but he had been all night so he reached that point in which it was impossible to turn even redder. But this was new, it was exciting and he was nervous, nervous that he’d screw up, but he was also so hot and so aroused.

“Okay, stop me whenever if it doesn’t feel right or something,” Liam nodded and lowered his head, kissing the blonde gently as he slowly started to move his hips. Shallow thrusts first, because he could feel Niall’s body tense still and he knew it hurt.

Niall’s hand was still stroking himself lazily which helped a lot to relax and add up the fact that Liam was a great kisser, he felt like he was in heaven. He was waiting for that feeling that had had him shivering before, that spot that had made everything better.

Liam’s thrust started to speed up gradually, and he buried his face in Niall’s neck, groans escaping his mouth. He grabbed the blonde’s legs then and pulled them up, wrapping them around his waist, changing their position slightly but in a way that he managed to make Niall shiver beneath him. He smiled to himself proudly, and started sucking on the blonde’s neck, hearing the small sounds and gasps that left his lips.

He lifted his face to find Niall with his eyes closed and biting his trembling bottom lip, so he stopped mid thrust, and ran his thumb over his lip, “hey,” he whispered and Niall opened his eyes to look at him, blue eyes dark and pleading, “you don’t need to hold it, it’s just me,” he smiled sweetly at him, leaning to place a kiss on his forehead and resumed his thrusting. The blonde’s face changed into one of pleasure, all his features were relaxed and his lips barely parted, silent moans and whimpers escaping him and feeling the air together with his own groans.

Liam was so close, Niall felt so good around him and all those little sounds were getting him so close to the edge, so without hesitation, he lowered his hand in between his bodies, moving Niall’s hand away so he could jerk him off himself in time with his thrust.

“I can’t- I’m,” Niall cried out, his hands fisting the sheets on the sides of his body, “please-“

“It’s okay, babe, I’m so close too,” Liam dived down for a kiss and Niall arched his back, clenching around him, “come on, you can let go.”

Niall didn’t need to be told twice, Liam just kept on hitting his prostate repeatedly and jerking him all through his orgasm, white ropes of cum shooting between their bodies and staining his skin.

That made it for Liam, it took him a minute after feeling Niall having an orgasm, clenching so tight his head was spinning. His thrust became erratic for a minute before he stilled and Niall could feel Liam’s cock pulsing inside him, making him moan at the sensation.

Liam collapsed on top of Niall, both their breathings heavy and fast.

“Li, can you-“ Niall scrunched up his nose, the feeling of Liam still inside him starting to feel weird and a bit uncomfortable.

“Oh! Shit- yes, sorry,” Liam lifted his body, feeling tired already and slowly pulled out and Niall made a little hiss sound, then he rolled off the condom and tying it.

“I got you all dirty, sorry, I should-“ Niall went to sit, intending to go look for tissues to clean them up but Liam stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Let me,” he smiled softly and got up, walking into the bathroom with the tied condom in his hand because well, he needed to get rid of that too.

Niall felt relaxed all over, despite of the dull pain on his lower back, but other than that, he felt like he was floating around. He closed his eyes and started to drift away quickly but was brought back to reality when a wet cloth was placed in his chest, cleaning him carefully. He looked up at Liam with half closed eyes and saw that Liam was still sporting that soft, happy smile.

Liam left again for a second to the bathroom and came out without the cloth this time, laying next to Niall, pulling him close with a happy sigh, “that was amazing,” he nuzzled his nose to the blonde’s hair, “how are you feeling?”

“Great,” he snuggled close to Liam’s body as Liam made his best to place the blankets over his body without having to let go of him.

“Was it weird?” he was so sleepy already yet here he was, making sure that Niall didn’t feel weird out and comfortable about this.

“No, just- just a bit at the beginning,” Niall felt his cheeks warm up and his face against Liam’s neck, “thank you, for being so patient,” he whispered against his skin and placed a soft kiss there.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Liam’s voice was all slurry already, heavy with sleep, “love you,” he yawned and squeezed his arms weakly around him and then Niall knew, he was asleep. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, a feeling of warmth settling inside him before he drifted away too.

 

When Liam woke up, there was barely any light in the room coming from outside but what confused him, was the fact that he was alone in bed. He sat up abruptly, blinking quickly and rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleep and looked around. His first thought was that Niall had maybe gone to the bathroom, but the door was opened and the lights weren’t on, so he wasn’t there. His mind went into overdrive too fast, what if last night wasn’t great at all? What if he hurt him? What if Niall didn’t like it and he didn’t want Liam anymore? He took a deep breath and let them out slowly, looking around, realizing that Niall’s suitcase was still there, so that meant he wasn’t gone. Then where was he?

He got up, shivering when the cold air hit him, and just looked for a pair or boxer briefs to put in, when he realized that Niall was in the only place in the room he hadn’t checked, the balcony.

He opened the door to go out and felt cold immediately, but didn’t make a move to go inside again. “Hey,” he stepped closer and brushed his fingertips to Niall’s shoulder.

“ Oh- hi,” Niall smiled up at him. He wasn’t wearing much either, just boxers and a shirt.

“What are you doing here?”

“Woke up a bit early and decided to watch the sunrise,” he shrugged, “it’s on my list,” he smiled shyly.

“I still need to see that list,” Liam chuckled and Niall shook his head still smiling, “stand up,” he offered his hand to him and Niall took it and they were immediately moving to their favorite position, in which Liam would wrap his arms around the blonde’s waist, his chest against his back and his chin on his shoulder.

“I wanted to wake you,” Niall murmured, feeling like it was too early to speak louder and like there was some kind of peaceful atmosphere, “but you looked so cute I couldn’t do it.”

“You should have,” he kissed his shoulder.

They stayed in silence, Liam rocked their bodies to the sides slightly as they watched the sun come up. It was stupidly romantic, really, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You’re like the sun,” Niall mumbled and squeezed Liam hands that were resting on his lower stomach.

“Hm?” Liam frowned, “I’m like the sun? What do you mean?”

“You’re like the sun,” he repeated, “comforting and warm,” he finished, a slight blush on his face.

“Oh-“ Liam blinked and tightened his arms around him, a comfortable feeling of warmth settling in his stomach at Niall’s words. “Did you just- did you just… _poetry_ me?”

Niall laughed then, a happy laugh bubbling from his throat, “it’s called, _reciting_ ,” he explained.

“Yeah, well- that,” Liam rolled his eyes, trying to hide the embarrassment at what he said.

“I guess I did,” Niall shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“You’re like the sun too,” Liam commented, nuzzling his nose against his neck.

“Me? ‘m not.” Niall shook his head as if Liam was crazy.

“Yes, you are, you’re beautiful!” Liam exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, how could Niall not notice that?

“That doesn’t even rhyme!” Niall laughed and Liam could feel him shaking against his chest.

“Well, I’m not a poet, so, I tried my best,” he shrugged.

“I’m sure you did,” Niall turned his head to the side to kiss his cheek.

They stayed outside for a while longer as they watched the sun come out then decided to go back to bed to get some more sleep before enjoying their last day of freedom.

 

The next time Liam woke up, it was to the sound of his phone, so he turned around in bed, smiling to himself when he heard the soft snores coming from his side, and clumsily reached for his phone on the nightstand. He blinked a couple of times to adjust his eyes to the light of the screen, unlocking it. It was Louis, well, Louis and Harry, they had a text group so he opened the conversation, reading what they had written.

_Louis: guess liam’s been getting at it the whole weekend, haven’t heard once about him_

Damn Louis.

_Harry: leave him alone, a little sex never hurt nobody._

Well, damn Harry too.

He rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics, starting to type a response.

_‘I’m reading you, you dumbasses. my sex life is none of your business’_

He locked the screen again, and his phone instantly went off again. Damn, what were they even doing up this early- well, not so early, it was eleven already.

_Louis: oooooh look who’s alive mate! didn’t know you had that much stamina liam!_

Oh my _God._

_‘shut up louis’_

_Harry: lou oh my god. I hope you’re having a good time liam, we’ll see you later, don’t mind us_

There was a reason why he loved his friends and it was the fact that they always balanced each other in every aspect, Louis has always been like this, making a joke out of everything while Harry has always been a bit more sensible.

He placed his phone next to him on the mattress and felt Niall’s legs kicked him softly, he still couldn’t get over how cute it was that his body always did that when he woke up.

“Morning, Ni,” he smiled and kissed his head.

“Morni-“ Niall was interrupted by his phone going off. But this wasn’t a text, this was an actual call.

He moved around on the bed, reaching for his glasses and his phone, glancing at the screen. It was Zayn.

“Hello?” he answered with a sleepy voice.

“Oh- hey, Niall, were you sleeping? I can call you back later,” Zayn’s voice came from the other side of the line.

“I just woke up, it’s fine,” he explained, “what’s up?” he asked, wanting to know why Zayn called, there must be a reason because he couldn’t really remember talking on the phone once.

“I’ve got news,” his friend told him and he could hear excitement in his voice, “I just got my mail and saw you had some so I brought it back to mine,” he explained then paused for a minute, “remember that competition you signed in-“ he groaned, was this really important right now?

“Yeah, what about it?” he rubbed his eye as he moved to sit on the bed, Liam doing the same.

“Well I couldn’t wait for you to know what happened and-“ AND?

“And what?!” he suddenly exclaimed and Liam looked at him with a confused expression.

“You won.”

“ _I what?!”_ he yelled even louder, his eyes going wide. What the hell?!

“Ni, what’s wrong-“ Liam attempted to say but Niall had jumped off from the bed.

“Are you serious- _oh my God!_ ” Niall heard Zayn laughing form the other side of the phone.

“I couldn’t wait to tell you, I’m sorry,” Zayn apologized, “maybe you have your own celebration on there,” Niall could hear the smirk on his friend’s voice.

“ _Zayn,_ ” he whined.

“Anyways- just thought I should let you know, I’ll see you later today and we can celebrate, you deserved this, Niall.”

“Thanks,” Niall couldn’t help but blush, he never thought, not in a million years that he could win that contest, “see you later.”

“What happened?!” Liam asked all jumpy when Niall hung up his phone.

“I won, I can’t believe it,” Niall sat on the bed again, staring at the wall in front of him.

“What did you win? Please explain?” Liam sounded confused as ever and it was the cutest thing ever.

“I, uhm-“ Niall turned to look at his boyfriend with a light blush, “I entered a contest- a poetry one, of course, a while ago, I never thought I could win it,” he looked down, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Ni, that’s so great!” Liam threw his arms around him and hugged him tight, “I’ve always told you you’re great, haven’t I?” he smiled, “you so deserved this.”

“Thanks, Li.” He hugged him back and rested his head on Liam’s shoulder.

“Why wasn’t I informed about this though?” Liam faked an angry tone but Niall could hear the smile in his voice.

The blonde shrugged, “I just thought you’d get excited and I thought I didn’t have a chance to win so I didn’t tell you, sorry,” he mumbled against Liam’s skin, “guess you would’ve been right, huh?”

“I’m always right,” Liam held his waist and pushed him until he was laying on the bed as he moved to straddle him, “now, don’t you think we should celebrate?” he smirked down at Niall, watching him blush and look away.

“O- okay, but uhm- slow cause I’m a bit uh- sore,” he whispered the last word.

“Of course, I’ll take care of you,” he leaned down to kiss him gently. “I don’t want to leave,” he whispered against his lips in between kisses.

“Me neither,” Niall told him.

“Maybe we can just drop out and move here.” Liam pulled away with a dreamy face, Niall chuckled though.

“We can’t do that.”

“I know,” he sighed and buried his face in the crook of Niall’s neck and kissed there softly, “maybe one day.”

“Yeah,” he wrapped his arms around Liam’s neck, “maybe one day.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, yes, I know the smut sucked and so did the end but I suck at endings so please forgive me. anyways, this is the end of this story and I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writting it. I'm prabably gonna take a break from writting for a while now but I'll be back! if you ever feel like shooting me a message, you can always find me on tumblr. anyways, thank you all for reading! (: x

**Author's Note:**

> *hides under a rock* how was it?


End file.
